<P> As tobacco's popularity grew, it became the savior of the colonies . Due to the rough climate, the colonies weren't able to produce other crops necessary for survival . With no crops, they lacked an income and a food supply, so the colonists took the opportunity to begin growing tobacco . Fortunately, the Virginia climate and land structure was perfect for tobacco plantations . As Virginia tobacco rapidly gained popularity abroad, it became more difficult to encourage the production of diverse crops or other commodities in the colony . Land was readily available and quick profits could be made on tobacco . </P> <P> Tobacco cultivation is labor intensive, requiring a large labor force . Indentured servants came to Virginia, as well as other colonies, where they worked for several years in return for passage to the New World . The first slaves arrived in Virginia in 1619, but it was several decades before slavery became the dominant labor force in the colony . Tobacco was Virginia's primary agricultural export throughout the colonial period . </P> <P> As time passed, the Virginia Colony steadily increased its tobacco production . However, between the years of 1740 and 1770, the few decades just prior to the American Revolution, the population of Virginia was increasing more quickly than its tobacco production was, resulting in greater economic diversification . </P> <P> In 1634 a second English colony, Maryland, was founded along the Chesapeake Bay . The land was granted by Charles I to Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, as a proprietary colony . Founded as a source of income for Baltimore and a refuge for Roman Catholics, tobacco soon became the dominant export in Maryland as it had in Virginia . While there were some black slaves who worked the plantations in Maryland from the very beginning, slavery was not widespread until after 1700 . Until that time, most of the work on the tobacco plantations was done by indentured servants . The abundance of tobacco plantations in Maryland resulted in a lack of towns . Due to the geography of the Chesapeake Bay, there was no need for ports and roads . The inlets, creeks, coves, and river mouths allowed for ships to come directly to plantation wharfs to trade English goods for tobacco (or corn, another widely - grown crop in Maryland). </P>

Who supplied the labour necessary for virginia's tobacco boom