Colonial Virginia's Major Exports

Virginia's colonial economy relied on exporting:

• Tobacco – Premier cash crop; shipped to England/Europe from 1600s onward.
• Grains – Wheat, corn to West Indies and neighboring colonies.
• Lumber & Naval Stores – Timber, masts, tar, pitch for British shipbuilding.
• Livestock – Cattle, horses, hogs to colonial and Caribbean markets.
• Fish & Seafood – Chesapeake Bay harvest sent to Americas and Europe.

These exports built transatlantic trade networks that sustained the colony.