Plantations

A plantation is an organizational unit based on agricultural production of some sort, usually of a single species or a limited number of species grown on a large scale (monoculture) and intended as a cash crop. Generally, plantations are large, complex sites, employing a large labor force and involving craft specialties. Frequently, if not invariably, workers are tenants living on or near the plantation.

If a single defining element exists for plantations, it would probably be scale. The presence of unique communities is a good secondary defining characteristic. In the nineteenth century, plantations were associated with a colonial presence, and their products included banana, rubber, teak, and tobacco. Tropical or semitropical climates provided good growing seasons for such crops as cocoa, coffee, coconut, and oil palm in Asia and Africa, and for cane sugar, cotton, and rice in the New World.

Today, plantations may be distinguishable from other agricultural forms by size. Vast improvements in agricultural technology, making a large labor force unnecessary, and increased protection of civil rights have altered the sociological and political implications of plantations as social structures. In the United States, nostalgia and reliance on distorted information about work conditions on plantations have created a “good old days” image of plantation life. It is not unusual for areas rich in a history of plantations to identify this heritage as cultural capital that can be exploited for cultural tourism. Frequently, the stories of plantation life are designed to accommodate the real or imagined desires of potential tourists. At some tourist sites, however, plantation tours use guides who play the roles of workers to describe what life was really like for house and field slaves.

Because of the complexities of plantation life, there are a number of competing stories that could be told. This entry focuses on plantation life in the New World, especially in the United States and the Caribbean. Many of the generalities, however, also apply to plantation life in Asia and Africa, especially in the context of slavery or forced labor.