Moll Flanders | Historical Context

The American Colonies and the English Economy
In the novel, Moll sails to Virginia twice: first as the wife of a plantation owner, and second as a convicted criminal sentenced to serve time as a slave. In the late seventeenth century and early eighteenth century, Virginia was an English colony, evidence of expanding English overseas interests in the name of trade and political power. Settled in the early 1600s, Virginia was a thriving and important complement to England’s economy by the early 1700s.

During this period, wealth came progressively more from...


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