European Settlers Grew Wealthy From Native Crops of Corn, Cotton and Tobacco

Part 7 of the series Are Native Americans Relevant?

After the arrival of the first European settlers, the Native Americans continued to teach new European settlers about the flora and fauna, and how to farm.  The colonial economy depended on Indian crops.  The early settlers exported tobacco, cotton and corn, major crops supplemented by fur trade in the northern colonies and deerskins in the south.

Cotton is the most important and widely used vegetable fiber in the world. The majority of cottons grown are of American origin.  Europe began importing cotton in 1552, which to the creation of the first textile factories.  The U.S. supplied 7/8s of Britain’s cotton before the Civil War.  From South Carolina west to Texas plantations were created out of Indian farms to grow cotton.  Growers not lucky enough to own coastal plantations had to keep moving west because the land wore out and they didn’t fertilize it. 

 After the Civil War other uses were developed for cotton by products:  cotton oil for soap, lamp oil, cooking oil and cotton meal for fuel, fertilizer and animal feed.

Native American farmers developed a type of corn for almost every ecological niche from southern Canada to northern Chile and Argentina.  It grows in virtually every part of the world where humans can grow crops.  Corn is higher in nutrition than most other grin crops and the yield is higher.  At time of contact, corn was 30 times more productive than traditional European grains.  Settlers ate corn chowder, corn bread, corn tortillas, corn tamales, hominy, grits, fresh corn, popcorn.  They fed corn to their chickens, turkeys and pigs.  They had more meat in their diets than European contemporaries.  Corn was exported to the Caribbean to feed millions of slaves on the sugarcane plantations.

Tobacco is a Native American plant that grows in almost as many diverse environments as corn.  It was grown throughout Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina.  The demand increased through 1600s.  It was the milder tobacco from the Caribbean that was most popular.  The local tobacco was too strong.  

Early tobacco growers began with agricultural procedures learned from the Natives.  The prosperity of early Virginia came from the sale of tobacco.  Without such a prosperous crop, Virginia wouldn’t have fared well.  By 1616 Virginia merchants exported over a ton of tobacco to England.  By 1689 they exported over 7000 tons.  By 1775 tobacco was 1/6 of all exports in all 13 colonies.  

Tobacco was also grown in the Connecticut River Valley.  It was a high quality used for snuff and cigar wrappers.

The plantation system was developed for tobacco.  It also created a new social form in the South that strongly influenced American history.

Native-Based Fur Trade Enables Growth of American Economy

Part  of the series Are Native Americans Relevant?

 

The fur trade was one of the major reasons why the North American continent was settled by Europeans.  The most sought after fur was beaver.  Beaver hats were very important in Europe before the use of umbrellas.  Europeans wanted fur for clothing in cold stone or brick houses.  Europeans were growing wealthy and wanted to buy the furs that were available from the continent.   

The fur trade began with the first explorers and was one of the major economic forces until the mid 1800s.  It was dependent upon Native American hunters and trappers.  The fur trade began with the first explorers and was one of the major economic forces until the mid 1800s.  The English, French, Dutch, Swedish, Spanish and Russians were all after furs.  Furs were 1/3 to ½ of all exports from New York and Pennsylvania between 1700 and 1750.  The fur trade was why Albany, New York, and Springfield, Massachusetts, were settled.  The fur trade was why English wrested control of New Amsterdam from the Dutch, because the English only had possession of land around Hudson’s Bay in the far north.  In the Southeast deerskins were important.  Plastic and rubber later were used in place of deerskin.

Native women were especially valuable in the fur trade. Some were captured in raids and passed around tribes, often speaking several languages and knowing many travel routes.  They became wives to French and Scottish traders.  In addition to skinning and preparing game and furs, the women had the foraging skills to live off the land when game was scarce.  They also knew how to use traditional herbs.  They knew how to make and repair birch bark canoes and how to track.  Many trappers and traders were dependent upon their women for success.

Furs formed the early wealth of North American.  They financed major cities and the expansion of westward settlement.  Some American cities began as forts or trading posts.  Astute businessmen such as John Jacob Astor, who started the American Fur Company, accumulated capital reserves allowing them to finance further development, trade and industrialization, including canals and railways allowing Europeans to move west to take over more of the continent.  The wealth was carried forward by investment in banks and insurance companies that still exist.

European Wealth Based on Native Gold and Silver

Part I of the series Are Native American Relevant?

The gold and silver in medieval European churches and palaces came from the New World.  Between 1500 and 1650 180 to 200 tons were added to European treasuries, a value of over $2.8 billion in 1988.  Between 1492 and 1542 16,000 tons of silver entered Europe, $3.3 billion in 1988.  At first the gold and silver were stolen from the Native Americans on the continent.  Then it was mined by Native American slaves.  As they died off, the mining was continued by African slaves.  This wealth was carried off to Europe by Spanish galleons. 

From Spain the wealth spread through Europe. For the first time there was something other than land that provided wealth, leading to the new merchant and capitalist classes.  It made possible a world economy for the first time.