Carolina's Golden Fields: Inland Rice Cultivation in the South Carolina Lowcountry, 1670-1860 (Cambridge Studies on the American South)

Smith, Hayden R.

ISBN 10: 110842340X / ISBN 13: 9781108423403

Published by Cambridge University Press, 2019

About this Item

Seller Inventory # V9781108423403

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Carolina's Golden Fields: Inland Rice Cultivation in the South Carolina Lowcountry, 1670-1860 (Cambridge Studies on the American South)
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 110842340X
• ISBN 13: 9781108423403
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

Hayden R. Smith is Adjunct Professor of History at the College of Charleston, South Carolina.