Final answer:
Rice was the most important crop in South Carolina by the mid-18th century, requiring labor-intensive work and contributing to the growth of the slave trade.
Step-by-step explanation:
Rice was the most important crop in South Carolina by the mid-18th century. It was introduced to the area in the early 1680s and thrived in the humid Carolina low country.
Rice production was labor-intensive and required the use of enslaved Africans to work in the coastal wetlands, clear vegetation, build irrigation systems, and tend to the crop.
The demand for rice increased the need for slaves from rice-growing regions of West Africa, and Charleston became a major center of the slave trade.