What exactly was the colonial period?
The colonial period was the time frame when the major European world powers set up colonies and outposts throughout the world including what is today known as the US, but also throughout North and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and parts of Asia. The colonial powers were England, Spain, France, Holland, and Portugal. In the US this took place from about 1620-1776 but throughout the world the time period is much more broad. Tobacco was important essentially because that was the main plantation crop that gave the southern American colonies an economic reason to exist.
