Tobacco
When John Rolfe joined the resupply fleet to James Fort which ended up shipwrecked in Bermuda, it was with the intent cultivating tobacco from seeds of a strain grown by the Spanish colonists in Trinidad. Spain at that time monopolized the tobacco trade in Europe. Rolfe’s arrival in Virginia was delayed by the events in Bermuda and subsequent battles in Virginia, but by 1614 he had successfully cultivated a sweeter strain of tobacco leaf in Virginia which was popular in England, due to its milder taste. Rolfe called his strain Orinoco tobacco, and the crop made him one of Virginia’s earliest successful planters.
Growing tobacco was labor intensive, especially during the harvest, and Rolfe used indentured servants to manage his fields and harvest and cure his crop. He was soon joined by other planters in the James Fort area and at the expanding Virginia settlements. Tobacco made the Virginia colony a financial success, and its growth led to expanding industries in the colony to support the new product, including cooperages, armorers and blacksmiths to make tools, brick makers, and pipe makers. The demand for tobacco in Europe grew, with the Virginia leaf found superior to the tobaccos of the Spanish colonies, and England’s overseas trade expanded.