In the nineteenth century, which product was the world's major crop produced by slave labor? a. tobacco. b. cotton. c. rice. d. sorghum. e. indigo.

b. cotton.

Extra: During the nineteenth century, particularly in the Southern United States, cotton was known as "King Cotton" because it became the most important commodity produced by slave labor. The cotton economy relied heavily on the plantation system where African American slaves were forced to work in the fields under harsh and inhumane conditions.

Cotton production played a critical role in the economy and was a major factor in international trade. It was in high demand in Europe, especially in Great Britain, where the textile industry was booming due to the Industrial Revolution. The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 significantly increased the efficiency of cotton processing, which in turn increased the demand for slave labor as cotton plantations expanded across the American South.

The reliance on slave labor for cotton production had profound social and economic impacts, contributing to the wealth of plantation owners and the entrenchment of slavery as an institution in the United States. This would eventually become one of the central issues leading up to the American Civil War.

Besides cotton, other crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo were also produced by slave labor, but they did not reach the same level of economic importance as cotton did during the nineteenth century. Sorghum was typically not a major slave-produced crop in the United States during this period.