Title Carolina's golden fields : inland rice cultivation in the South Carolina Lowcountry, 1670-1860 / Hayden R. Smith

Published Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2020 ©2020

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Description 1 online resource (xvii, 245 pages) Series Cambridge studies on the American South Cambridge studies on the American South. Contents Introduction: In land of cypress and pine -- Simple reserves : early development of inland rice, 1670-1729 -- The "golden mines of Carolina" : expansion of the inland complex, 1730-1783 -- "To depend altogether on reservoirs" : Upper Wando River rice cultivation, 1783-1860 -- "The rice fields which are sown have been partially flowed" : water and labor management during the antebellum period -- Inland rice cultivation and the promise of agricultural reform -- Epilogue: Forgotten fields Summary This book examines the environmental and technological complexity of South Carolina inland rice plantations from their inception at the turn of the seventeenth century to the brink of their institutional collapse at the eve of the Civil War. Inland rice cultivation provided a foundation for the South Carolina colonial plantation complex and enabled planters' participation in the Atlantic economy, dependence on enslaved labor, and dramatic alteration of the natural landscape. Moreover, the growing population of enslaved Africans led to a diversely-acculturated landscape unique to the Southeastern Coastal Plain. Despite this significance, Lowcountry inland rice cultivation has had an elusive history. Unlike many historical interpretations that categorize inland rice cultivation in a universal and simplistic manner, this study explains how agricultural systems varied among plantations. By focusing on planters' and slaves' alteration of the inland topography, this book emphasizes how agricultural methods met the demands of the local environment Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on December 23, 2019) Subject Rice farming -- South Carolina -- History Rice farming -- Environmental aspects -- South Carolina Rice farming -- Economic aspects -- South Carolina Slave labor -- South Carolina -- History Plantations -- South Carolina -- History Ecology Economic history Plantations Rice farming Slave labor SUBJECT South Carolina -- Economic conditions South Carolina -- Environmental conditions Subject South Carolina Genre/Form History Form Electronic book ISBN 9781108526005 1108526004

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