In the late 1800s, sharecroppers paid their rent with

part of the harvest.

Sharecropping developed from the contradictory interests of ancient serfs and ancient slave estate landlords. For farmers, it was a method to continue farming production, as extensive estates were transformed into peculiar family lands.

In sharecropping,  the members of the family worked on another person's land. The landowner asked almost half of the product yield (usually cotton) in replacement for rent.

sorry i do not know this

c it says nothing about connecting those 2 seas.