Why were slaves important to the colonial economy?

Each region had different job opportunities because of the environment. For example, in the south the soil was rich and fertile allowing the mass production of cash crops. Why were the slaves important to the colonial economy? Enslaved Africans were a commodity because the manual labor demand was high in the colonies.

Slaves provided the labor force that grew the crops and did most of the work (indentured servants and common people also worked) that made the colonies profitable and successful.