Because the climate and soil of the South were suitable for the cultivation of commercial (plantation) crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo, slavery developed in the southern colonies on a much larger scale than in the northern colonies; the latter’s labor needs were met primarily through the use of European immigrants, who usually served indentures of seven years at the most. In fact, throughout the colonial period, Virginia had the largest slave population, followed by Maryland. In South Carolina (Carolina was divided in 1663 into the North Carolina region and South Carolina region and into two colonies in 1701), however, slaves constituted a larger proportion of the total population than in any other colony-sixty percent of the population in 1765.