What was the purpose of a plantation?

Answer 1

Plantations in the American south before the Civil War usually specialized in a single crop, most often cotton, tobacco, rice, sugar cane, and indigo. The purpose was to make the most efficient use of the land to produce the largest crop possible, for the support of the slaves, the owner and his family, the white workers, payment on the usually massive debt carried by the owner, and the taxes on the land, and hopefully to produce enough profit beyond that to enrich the owner. The harvest of the single main crop was sold at the best price obtainable. Some of the plantation land was also devoted to growing food crops for the plantation community, and feed corn for its cattle, pigs and horses. A plantation was merely a large scale agricultural enterprise, the distinguishing difference being that the labor was mostly performed by slaves.