Carolina Indigo

The Whispers of Charleston · Aug 23, 2026 · 5m

From around 1740 until 1760. rice production and exports stagnated because the War of Jenkins' Ear (1739-1748) and the War of Austrian Succession (1745-1748) disrupted normal trade patterns and increased freight and insurance rates. Although rice rebounded in the last few years before the Revolution, planters searched for other crops as a source of revenue, Indigo was such a crop.

Although indigo had been tried earlier in the colony. its quality was not good and there was not an adequate labor force to cultivate it However, in 1739, Capt. Lucas, the Governor of Antigua, sent seeds of indigo…