Between 1450 and 1500 Europeans developed a strong geographic understanding of lands far from their own. With their growing knowledge in science, oceanic ventures, and commerce, they were able to conquer and endure new territory while simultaneously exploiting the people and resources that these freshly discovered lands offered. The Europeans did not take long to plant colonies on the newly found America that fueled not only themselves and their European homelands, extracting commodities from the land through a heavy dependence on slave labor.
As time passed, experienced colonist that lived in the developed Barbados sought expansion and found it in the Carolinas. The colonists were hard at work in order to develop the fertile land and establish the young colony. Overwhelmed by Carolina’s seemingly vast territory, colonist began importing high amounts of slaves to aid in developing the lands and plantations. When planters in South Carolina developed rice exports that could be carried out on a large scale, the need for slaves became exponential. Plantation owners took full advantage of the young colony’s growing cash crop and were able to satisfy Europeans’ demand for the grain through profitable exchanges and trade. It didn’t take long for Carolina to become the British empire’s powerful rice colony.
“A map of the parish of St. Stephen in Craven County: exhibiting a view of several places practicable for having a navigable canal between Santee and Cooper Rivers”
The value of rice-growing land increased in the flourishing economy, and by the 18th century suitable land was much more difficult to come by. Meanwhile, colonist were hard at work manipulating crops and experimenting with different plants, seeds and terrain with the hopes of creating a new and different cash crop that might be as successful as rice. This led to the cultivation of indigo, a plant that could be grown almost anywhere, even relatively dry lands where rice could not survive. The plant produced a blue dye that sparked the interest of England’s clothing industry, giving the plantation owners a high demand to satisfy. This trade in turn paved the way for the colonies second valuable commodity crop. As indigo plantations developed they became a significant part of the competitive market and introduced a lucrative income to the colony. Aggressive entrepreneurs quickly jumped on the indigo bandwagon as it became an instrumental part of the Carolina’s production, going from exporting 63,000 pounds in 1750 to 500,000 pounds by 1760(Weir, 151) . Historian Alan Taylor comments on the powerful combination of Carolinas cash crops, stating that “Enjoying a protected market within the empire of both rice and indigo, Carolina planters became the wealthiest colonial elite on the Atlantic seaboard—and second only to the West Indians within the Empire.” As planters continued to master the meticulous process of growing indigo, it became a trade mark for the newly developed Carolinas.
Because Indigo became such an emblem in Carolina’s plantations even as its contribution to a large portion of income, it quickly funneled itself into the subjects of personal letters, historical documents, maps and newspaper publications. Examples of this can be found in letters written by Eliza Lucas Pinckney. These letters are filled with content on not only the meticulous, frustrating creation of indigo, but also the business side of the cash crop that revealed transactions of the plant from the Carolinas to London. It also appears in historical maps, such as the one pictured above. Surveyor Henry Mouzon drew out the map, depicting the land and focusing on valuable areas of navigable canals. However, in the midst of the drawing of terrain, and routes to canals, the entire bottom corner is taken up with images of indigo as well as images of slaves going through the meticulous, long steps of processing the plant. The map was created to reveal to the people of London Carolina’s value, so the fact that indigo takes up a large portion of it shows its significance. Another example can be found in the poem Indico that was published August 25, 1757 in the prevalent South Carolina Gazette. The colonies popular Newspaper was reflective of the interest and topics of that time period making the plant indigo a frequent subject. The poem, Indico, was artfully filled with content on the processing of indigo with the seasonal challenges, crops highs and lows, and the faith in God that will lead to a much needed, plentiful harvest.
Bibliography
“A map of the parish of St. Stephen in Craven County: exhibiting a view of several places practicable for having a navigable canal between Santee and Cooper Rivers” Surveryor: Henry Mouzon, London, 1773. Courtesy of South Carolina Historical Society.
Cohen, Hennig. The Carolina Gazette: 1773-1775. University of South Carolina press, 1953. Review by: Granville T. Prior. The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 55, No. 2 (Apr., 1954), pg. 129-130, Print.
Pinckney, Eliza. The Letterbook of Eliza Lucas Pinkney 1739-1762. Ed. Elise Pickney. The South Carolina Historical Society, 1972. Print.
Taylor, Alan. “Carolinas: 1670-1760.” American Colonies: The Settling of North America: The Penguin History of the United States. Vol. 1. Ed. Eric Foner. New York: Penguin, 2002. 237-238. Print.
The South Carolina Gazette. Indico. Published August 25, 1757. Print.
Weir, Robert M. Colonial South Carolina: A History. New York: University of South Carolina Press, 1997. Print.