Plantation societies

Plantation societies are communities centered around large-scale farms, known as plantations, primarily focused on growing crops like sugar, cotton, coffee, or tobacco for export. These societies historically relied heavily on slave or indentured labor, creating a social structure where landowners held significant power. The economy depended on these cash crops, shaping social, economic, and political systems around plantation agriculture. Such societies often had distinct social classes, with a wealthy planter elite and a large laboring lower class, influencing regional development and history profoundly.