Agriculture in Colonial Maryland
Colonist in colonial Maryland grew their own food along with growing three major cash crops: tobacco, rice, and indigo. They raised a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, and livestock, the cash crop was tobacco, which soon came to dominate the provincial economy.These were grown on plantations that were worked by slaves and indentured servants.The colony sold to buyers in England and elsewhere in America. Plantations kept people widely separate which prevented the growth of many towns. Colonial Maryland was almost entirely agricultural. The main feature was the plantation, a large plot of land that contained a great many acres of farmland and buildings in which lived the people who owned the land and the people who worked the land. Maryland developed into a plantation colony by the 18th century. In 1700 there were about 25,000 people and by 1750 that had grown more than 5 times to 130,000. By 1755, about 40% of Maryland's population was black. Maryland planters also made great use of the indentured servants and penal labor. A system of rivers made it easier for the movement of produce from inland plantations to the Atlantic coast for export.