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The African slaves who worked on the indigo, tobacco, and rice fields in the South came mostly from the Caribbean sugar islands (plus a few who came directly from Africa). In 1700, there were about 9,600 slaves in the Chesapeake region and a few hundred in the Carolinas. About 170,000 more Africans arrived over the next five decades. By 1750, there were more than 250,000 slaves in British America and in the Carolinas; they made up about 60 percent of the total population. Most slaves in South Carolina were born in Africa, while half the slaves in Virginia and Maryland were born in the colonies.
The African slaves who worked on the indigo, tobacco, and rice fields in the South came mostly from the Caribbean sugar islands (plus a few who came directly from Africa). In 1700, there were about 9,600 slaves in the Chesapeake region and a few hundred in the Carolinas. About 170,000 more Africans arrived over the next five decades. By 1750, there were more than 250,000 slaves in British America and in the Carolinas; they made up about 60 percent of the total population. Most slaves in South Carolina were born in Africa, while half the slaves in Virginia and Maryland were born in the colonies.
==Economy==
[[File:Ec$1800.jpg|thumb|400px|Estimated income in constant 1840 dollars. Source: Alice Jones, ''Wealth of a Nation to Be'' (1980); Susan B. Carter et al. ''The Historical Statistics of the United States'' (2006) vol 3.]]
The great majority of people throughout the colonial era were farmers and their income was not cash but the value of the crops and animals produced on farms, and mostly consumed by the family. The estimates are based on inventories of estates when people died. Most people lived in poverty--with very few possessions such as a small stock of clothes, a shack to live in, a few household goods--and land and animals. In terms of wealth the per capita wealth of Americans in 1774 was £37.4 ($6700 in 2009 dollars); per adult male £172 ($30,700); and per white adult male £218 ($39,000).<ref>Alice Hanson Jones, ''Wealth of a Nation to Be'' (1980)</ref>
==Literature==
==Literature==