<P> Plantations were an important aspect of the history of the American South, particularly the antebellum (pre-American Civil War) era . The mild subtropical climate, plentiful rainfall, and fertile soils of the American Southeast allowed large plantations to flourish; where large numbers of workers, usually Africans held captive for slave labor, were required for agricultural production . </P> <P> An individual who owned a plantation was known as a planter . Historians of the antebellum South have generally defined "planter" most precisely as a person owning property (real estate) and 20 or more slaves . The wealthiest planters, such as the Virginia elite with plantations near the James River, owned more land and slaves than other farmers . Tobacco was the major cash crop in the Upper South (in the original Chesapeake Bay Colonies of Virginia and Maryland, and in parts of the Carolinas). </P>

Who provided most of the labor on southern plantations