PropertyandSlavery

A story of Nicotiana Tabacum

Project Statement

As a labor-intensive and land-consuming agriculture product, Nicotiana Tabacum, the tobacco species in colonial plantations, is an invasive species brought to Virginia by John Rolfe from Orinoco River Valley (Spanish colonies) to bring a considerable profit for the Virginia Company. As tobacco became a popular commercial product for European settlers, the Virginia Company needs more land and labor to maximize the profit, which leads to the later historical practices of land division and chattel slavery.

Denying indigenous people’s right of land, the Virginia Company seized the land by claims based on "right of discovery" or "right of conquest", which begins the chain of title. Limited by funding, the company used lands as a direct reward to encourage labor coming to the colony from Europe. The policies that ensure this land grant after an individual fulfilled labor contractor include headright, treasury rights, or military warrants. The continual land survey, division, and transfer make the shatter plantations gradually connected as a process of urbanization. The Survey process also affects the boundary and geometry shape of the divided land on the map. Correspondingly, administrative divisions in Virginia shifted from initial “hundreds” to “shires”, which provides a basis for the later county system and the state boundary of Virginia.

The decrease in tobacco profit in the late 17th century made it more difficult to hire white servants from Europe and African slaves became the main labor source for tobacco planting. Marked by the Bacon Rebellion in 1676, the social conflicts in white community were transferred to racial discrimination and slavery. With the relevant policy and legislation as legal supports, the slavery formally became one component of the colonial social structure. The initial continual import of slaves later made the slavery population able to increase naturally, which stops the expensive slavery import in turn. In this process, the social structure and life pattern in the slavery community also changed significantly.

Content

INTRO

How tobacco is related to the practice of land division and slavery in early colonial periods and what is the reason behind it?

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1 | LAND DIVISiON

What is the process of Land division? What role did it play in the colonial expansion?

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2 | Urbanization

How did the early settlement expand on the map? What are the characters of this process?

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3 | Labor

What’s the relationship between tobacco and labor? Why did white servants come to Virginia? What caused the shift from white servant to slave?

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4 | Slaves Communities

How did the slaves' communities develop during the process of the slave trade and tobacco transportation? What about labor’s life in communities?

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Chapter 2

Urbanization

As the population of existing colonies grew, the demand for land expansion emerged. The early settlements had an expansion pattern along the James River heading west. To manage the colony in this region, administrative units changed several times in history such as “hundreds”, “shires” and “counties”. The urbanization process of parcel formation was closely linked to the way of survey and the James River. Typically the property was named by the name of its owner.

bibliography & source

Bibliography

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[18] Bonner James C.. "William Tatham and the Culture of Tobacco. Including a Facsimile Reprint of An Historical and Practical Essay On the Culture and Commerce of Tobacco G. Melvin Herndon William Tatham." The Georgia Historical Quarterly, vol. 54, no. 1, 1 Apr. 1970, pp. 135 - 134.

[19] Breen, T. H. and Stephen Innes. "Myne Owne Ground": Race and Freedom On Virginia's Eastern Shore, 1640-1676. 25th anniversary ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

[20] Davis, David Brion. The Problem of Slavery In Western Culture. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1966.

[21] Galenson, David W.. White Servitude In Colonial America: An Economic Analysis. Cambridge, [England]: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

[22] Jordan, Winthrop D.. The White Man's Burden: Historical Origins of Racism In the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.

[23] Morgan, Edmund S. (Edmund Sears). American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1975.

[24] Parent, HeinOnline Prestatehood Legal Materials, HeinOnline UNC Press Law Publications and Culture & Law HeinOnline Slavery in America and the World: History. Foul Means: The Formation of a Slave Society In Virginia, 1660-1740. S.l.: Chapel Hill: Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, by the University of North Carolina Press, 2003.

[25] Library of Congress A map of the most inhabited part of Virginia containing the whole province of Maryland with part of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and North Carolina. Drawn by Joshua Fry & Peter Jefferson in 1751.

[26] Virginia Historical Register, and Literary Advertiser (Online). Richmond: Macfarlane & Fergusson, 1848. Print.

[27] Great Dismal Swamp". Fish and Wildlife Service. Retrieved January 30, 2012.

[28] Doran, Michael F.. Atlas of County Boundary Changes In Virginia, 1634-1895. Athens, GA: Iberian Publishing Company, 1987.

[29] Harrison, Fairfax. Virginia Land Grants: A Study In Conveyancing In Relation to Colonial Politics. Richmond: Old Dominion Press, 1925.

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[32] Nugent, Nell Marion and Virginia State Library. Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, 1623-1800. Richmond: Press of the Dietz Print Co, 1934.

Image source

For the source of images on this website in PDF format, please use the link below, or scroll down.

Archive links

Image Source

1.(4) Smoking tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) , M. Bouchard, Image and original data from Wellcome Collection, https://library-artstororg.

proxy01.its.virginia.edu/#/asset/24888831;prevRouteTS=1619552496576.

2.(4) INDORUM SANA SANCTA, Pena and De L'Obel,New York Public Library, https://europepmc.org/article/med/15173337.

3.(5) Map of Virginia, John Smith, Copyright Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, https://library-artstor-org.proxy01.its.virginia.edu/#/

asset/BODLEIAN_10310769645;prevRouteTS=1618525241430.

4.(8) Cultivation of tobacco at Jamestown 1615, David B. Scott, A School History of the United States, https://currentpub.com/2019/08/23/

howjamestown-embraced-slavery/.

5.(9) Jamestown Charter, 1606, John Mitchell, Library of Congress, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ushistory1americanyawp/

chapter/primarysource-reading-jamestown-charter/.

6.(11) Warrant of Wren, James. grantee, Library of Virginia, http://image.lva.virginia.gov/LONN/NN1/214/0206-0211.pdf.

7.(12) Colonial surveys documents, James. grantee, Library of Virginia, http://image.lva.virginia.gov/LONN/NN1/214/0206-0211.pdf.

8.(13) [Plat of a survey of 2,314 acres of land, being the first large bottom on the east side of the Ohio River, 3 or 4 miles below the

mouth, a portion of which is divided into 17 lots, Crawford, William, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/75690212/.

9.(14) Gunter's chain and a manuscript manual for its use, unknow author, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/resource/g9900.ct0

11651/?r=0.22,0.056,0.76,0.503,0.

10.(14) Gunter's chain. unknow author, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/resource/g9900.ct011652/.

11.(15) Patent for Wren, James. grantee, Library of Virginia, http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~cnoelldunc/genealogy/Document_

Albums/17th_Century_Virginia_Land_Patents_M_to_W/index.htm.

12.(17) A map of the British and French dominions in North America, Mitchell, John, 1711-1768.Kitchin, Thomas, -1784.Millar, Andrew,

1705-1768. Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3300.np000009/?r=-0.117,-0.023,1.182,0.783,0.

13.(18) Caert Vande Riuer POWHATAN Geleg in Niew Nederlandt, Johannes Vingboons, Atlas of the Dutch West India Company, http://

www.virtualjamestown.org/jvmap1.html.

14.(19) Colonial land patents and grantees : Calfpasture Rivers, Augusta County, Virginia, Meredith Leitch, Library of Congress, https://

www.loc.gov/resource/g3883a.la001212/?r=0.024,-0.072,1.117,0.74,0.

15.(21) Towns, Plantations, Settlements and Communities in Virginia, Charles E. Hatch, Jr, THE FIRST SEVENTEEN YEARS, https://www.

gutenberg.org/files/30780/30780-h/30780-h.htm#Page_32-33.

16.(22) Virginia Under the Stuarts, Thomas J. Wertenbaker, Princeton University Press, https://archive.org/details/

virginiaunderstu00wertrich.

17.(23) Rapid Growth of Settlement along the James River, Nell Marion Nugen, Bulletin of the Virginia State Library, https://babel.

hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x004697145&view=1up&seq=131.

18.(24) The lower parish of Nansemond County, Va. Granbery, John, Jr, Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington,

https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3884s.la001309/?r=-0.027,-0.001,1.085,0.679,0.

19.(25) Virginia countries 1634-1640, Michael F. Doran, Virginia counties.

20.(26) A Correct Map of Virginia, Carey, Mathew, David Rumsey Historical Map Collection, https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/

detail/RUMSEY~8~1~626~50065:A-Correct-Map-of-Virginia-#.

21.(30) Indenture contract signed with an X by Henry Meyer in 1738, Henry Meyer Wikipedia Public domain, https://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/File:Indenturecertificate.jpg.

22.(31) The Fellow 'Prentices at their Looms: Industry and Idleness, plate 1, William Hogarth, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, https://www.

metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/398601.

23.(32) Dutch Slave Ship Arrives In Virginia, Unknown Author, Hulton Archive, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/firstafricanslave-

ship-arrives-jamestown-colony.

24.(33) Court Ruling on Anthony Johnson and His Servant. Northampton County, VA, Library of Virginia, http://www.encyclopediavirginia.

org/media_player?mets_filename=evm00003352mets.xml.

25.(34) Mandingo Slave Traders and Coffle, Senegal, 1780s, de Villeneuve, Renè Claude Geoffroy, Image is in the public domain.Metadata

is available under Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial 4.0 International, http://104.200.20.178/s/slaveryimages/item/409.

26.(35) Sr. Nathaniel Bacon,T, Chambars, Thomas, ca. 1724-1789, printmaker.Bacon, Nathaniel, 1585-1627, artist, Open Artstor: Folger

Shakespeare Library, https://library.artstor.org/#/assetprint/25237895.

27.(36) An Overseer Doing his Duty 1798 - Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764–1820), Benjamin Henry Latrobe,

Sketchbook, III, 33, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, http://www.slaveryimages.org/s/slaveryimages/item/11811.

28.(37) Wm. Gribble's Best Virginia Tobacco Barnstaple,Unknown Author, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, http://www.

slaveryimages.org/s/slaveryimages/item/1144.

29.(39) Stowage of the British Slave Ship Brookes under the Regulated Slave Trade Act of 1788, Unknown Author, Broadside collection,

Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress, http://slaveryimages.org/s/slaveryimages/item/2553.

30.(40) Shipping Tobacco, Virginia, ca. 1755, Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia

Library, http://www.slaveryimages.org/s/slaveryimages/item/1117.

31.(41) Slaves working on a tobacco plantation in seventeenth century Virginia, 1670. Unknown author, http://www.learnnc.org/lp/

multimedia/8850.

32.(42) Great Dismal Swamp Maroons, Unknown author Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Dismal_

Swamp_maroons.

33.(43) African Slave Family, Surinam, 1770s, Stedman, John Gabriel, Image is in the public domain, http://slaveryimages.org/s/

slaveryimages/item/640.

34.(44) Trent River Settlement; School-House and Chapel; Negro Huts, Harper's Weekly, Image is in the public domain, http://

slaveryimages.org/s/slaveryimages/item/1440.

35.(45) The Old Plantation, Jerome S. Handle University of Virginia Library, https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.

cgi?article=1457&context=adan.

36.(46) Tobacco. Product, per square mile of total area, by counties. Gannett, Henry, 1846-1914, David Rumsey Historical Map Collection,

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~32762~1152140:110--Tobacco-?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_

Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:tobacco;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:

RUMSEY~8~1&mi=42&trs=55#.

37.(47) Map of Virginia : showing the distribution of its slave population from the census of 1860, Washington : Henry S. Graham, 1861.

Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3881e.cw1047000/?r=-0.079,-0.057,1.302,0.815,0.

Property Regimes: Land & Body

Property Regimes: Land & Body

Property Regimes: Land & Body

A story of Nicotiana Tabacum

Project Statement

Timeline

Spatial mapping of settlement urbanization

Content

INTRO

1 | LAND DIVISiON

2 | Urbanization

3 | Labor

4 | Slaves Communities

Intro

Chapter 1

Land division

Chapter 2

Urbanization

Charpter 3

Labor

Charpter 4

Slaves Communities

bibliography & source

Bibliography

Image source

Image Source

Property Regimes: Land & Body

Property Regimes: Land & Body

A story of Nicotiana Tabacum

Project Statement

Timeline

Spatial mapping of settlement urbanization

Content

INTRO

1 | LAND DIVISiON

2 | Urbanization

3 | Labor

4 | Slaves Communities

Intro

Chapter 1

Land division

Chapter 2

Urbanization

Charpter 3

Labor

Charpter 4

Slaves Communities

bibliography & source

Bibliography

Image source

Image Source

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