Savannah has a long and productive relationship with the river that is its
namesake. The emergence of the State of Georgia as a leader in the international
trade arena dates from 1733 when our forebears had the vision to establish
the Port of Savannah as the state's economic and military cornerstone.
The first settlers arrived in that year from England aboard the 220-ton Anne to establish a bulkhead against the northward expansion of the Spanish.
The trustees who governed the city offered a silver boat and spoon to the
first child born in Georgia--the spoon a practical gift; the ship symbolic
of the importance of the commercial link between the new colony and the Mother
Country of England. The first evidence of that relationship involved the cultivation
of mulberry trees. Silkworms were imported to produce the silk needed to satisfy
England's demand. While it never paid off, the experience helped Savannah
recognize the value of resilience, flexibility and innovation--qualities that
endure today.
Soon after, an abundant staple of commodities including
wine, hemp, flax and potash began moving across the city's docks. Following
Georgia's break from England at the end of the Revolutionary War, Eli Whitney
invented the cotton gin on what is today land owned by the Georgia Ports Authority.
That invention launched the Port of Savannah into a top exporter of cotton. On February 1, 1788, a patent for a steamboat was issued by the state of Georgia to Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet; only one ever to be issued by Georgia, and first in the U.S. for a steamboat.
By 1796, by the record of the Bureau of Navigation, the American fleet registered for foreign commerce amounted to 476,733 tons. The years between 1789 and 1826 were the golden age of American seaborne commerce: The growth of American shipping from 1789 to 1807 is without parallel in the history of the commercial world of the time. America's development through those years came from cities wherein "each street leads downward to the sea."
By the early 1800's Savannah had earned a reputation as "King Cotton Port
of the World." In 1794, Savannah with a population of 2,500, exported less
than $500,000 worth of goods. Twenty-five years later it was the sixteenth-largest
city in the young nation with exports of more than $14 million.
So bustling an enterprise had international trade become to the city that
the S.S. Savannah, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic, sailed
from its waters on May 22, 1819. By then, the port had added to its diversified
trade portfolio rich cargoes of indigo, tobacco and timber. Still, cotton
reigned supreme.
Lloyds Weekly Newspaper, March 4, 1849
London, United Kingdom
In 1855, exports from the Port of Savannah to all foreign destinations totaled more than $20 million, with cotton representing 89 percent of the total. Although Georgia's export activity waned during the five years of the Civil War, production increased shortly after the conflict ended in 1865. By the late 1870's, cotton production in the South had regained its pre-Civil War status and Savannah was the leading cotton exporter once more.UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.—In the STATES OF GEORGIA. —For SALE, 120.000 ACRES of FREEHOLD LAND in Irwin County, in lots of Four Hundred and Ninety acres, at Six Shillings per acre; and in lots of Twenty-flve acres and upwards, at Eight Shillings per acre.—The lands lie between thirty-one and thirty-two degrees north; distant from the Atlantic Ocean one hundred and twenty miles, and at an elevation of four hundred feet above its level, free from swamps, climate salubrious and healthy, distant from England eighteen or twenty days' sail. They are bounded by the navigable rivers, the Flint and the Ocmulgee; by the former a communication is opened to the Gulf of Mexico; by the latter to the Atlantic. A railroad, two-thirds finished, passes through the lands, which will connect both these rivers. The purchasers of the several lots will be entitled to the minerals or products which may be found on the property, thus considerably enhancing the value. Vessels sail nearly every week from Liverpool to Savanna or Charleston. Passage toeither city from £3 to £4 per head, passengers finding their own provisions, etc. From Charleston and Savanna, the lands are reached by either coach, waggon, or steamboat. Every information may be obtained relative to the above, &c-, from RICHARD KELLY, Esq., 1, Royal Exchange- buildings, London.
