The colonists required labor for agriculture and other tasks so they brought in slaves, which was the cheapest form of labor available.
The slaves were brought on boats from Africa, usually in terrible conditions which led to many of them dying during the journey before even making it to America.
The slaves in the South worked mainly on the farms and plantations as the South had a lot of cultivatable land and the region's economy depended on it. Meanwhile, slaves in the New England and Middle regions were usually just house servants, cleaning, cooking and carrying out other tasks around their owner's house.
The economy of the South depended heavily on the cultivation of crops, especially cotton. The introduction of slaves allowed land owners to cultivate larger lands and gain more profit since the labor they had required little to no input.
