Plantation

Plantation is a large-scale farm that specializes in cash crops. The crops grown include cotton, coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar cane, sisal, oil seeds, oil palms, fruits, rubber trees and forest trees. Protectionist policies and natural comparative advantage have sometimes contributed to determining where plantations are located.

A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and expensive architectural works today, though most were more utilitarian, working farmhouses.

History

The history of plantations in the Americas dates back to colonial times. The first plantations were established by the Spanish in the Caribbean, and by the Portuguese and the Dutch in Brazil.

Modern times

In modern times, the low wages typically paid to plantation workers continue to be a source of controversy. Many of the world's most impoverished communities are in regions where plantations are widespread.

See also

• Cash crop
• Farmhouse
• Colonial history of the United States
• Poverty

References

Plantation Resources
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