Before coming to South Carolina, many English settlers moved to Barbados and made a living growing sugar cane. Why did this knowledge of sugar cane prove to be so valuable after they moved to the New World? O The plantation system used to grow sugar cane in Barbados was very similar to the system used to grow rice and indigo in South Carolina.
O While South Carolinians did not extract sugar from the sugar cane, they did use the crop to make rope, baskets, and even temporary shelters.
O The climate in South Carolina was so similar to that of Barbados that sugar cane became the first major cash crop in the new colony. O Native Americans tribes in South Carolina had never seen sugar cane, but were willing to give the colonists food, land, and protection in exchange for the new crop.