Sweet Nexus: Sugar And The Origins Of The Modern World

Before he was even taken aboard the slave ship, Equiano experienced the cruel and unsympathetic tactics of his white captors when his sister “was torn from [him], and immediately carried away” despite their pleas and ceaseless weeping (Equiano 46). Similar to the actions of Byrd, Equiano’s captors expressed little regard to the sentiments of African slaves, though it was undeniable that they, too, felt painfully real, human emotions despite their difference in skin color. Similar to Byrd’s account of inappropriate conduct between a young servant from the capitol, Equiano describes the brutality that many women faced, stating that “it was almost a constant practice with [the] clerks, and other whites, to commit violent depredations on the chastity of the female slaves,” even on girls as young as ten years old (Equiano 48-49). Equiano, unlike Byrd, shows remorse for his actions, admitting that “with reluctance, [he] obliged to submit to [these acts] at all times, being unable to help [the women],” unlike his white masters who assaulted their victims for their own gratification (Equiano 49). Similar to the exaggerated punishments distributed by Byrd to his slaves, Equiano recounts how whites staked a black man “to the ground” and cut his ears off “bit by bit” because he had had relations with “a white woman who was a common prostitute (Equiano 49). This horrific description shows the irony present present in interactions between white masters and black slaves when one race commits a crime against the other. It also displays the disregard shown to the pain tolerated by slaves at the hands of their

Do you ever wonder how sugar became so popular? The Sugar market went on for 200 years, throughout those years the market went up and down in business. In the last decades of the century, four fifths of the sugar went to the French and British colonies. The Sugar Trade was driven by three main factors, which were, land, capital, and mercantilism.

In conclusion, The sugar trade was most successful due to the high consumer demand and the slave trade. This is shown by the evidence of sugar’s addictive properties and its easy use as a sweetener with certain goods. However sugar does have its health and slavery issues, not allowing Africans and other slaves to live they life they

Today we take sugar for granted. But do we really know how it became the enormous product that it is now, do we really know what drove it to become this monster of trade? When Christopher Columbus came to the new world, he brought cane sugar. He quickly discovered how wonderful the land and climate were for growing sugar. In England, many rich merchants realized how successful it could become with the number of slaves available. Before the trade took root in central America, sugar had been considered a delicacy. Now, as it became more affordable, the consumer demand increased. All three of these factors drove the sugar trade to become the most successful and rapidly growing trade in history. The sugar trade was driven by consumer demand, cheap labor and fertile land.

The rise of sugar as a commodity in England situated England as the world’s leading consumer. The increasing popularity of coffeehouses among middle-class English people, as well the introduction of tea from China, fueled the counties. England’s growing interest in coffee and tea greatly increased the demand for sugar leading to a significant effect on Africa and its people. The high English demand for sugar required land to expand sugar plantations, and an efficient source of labor to produce, creating a connection between all three. For example, if there was not enough demand, there would have been no point in planting sugar and if cheap labor could not be obtained, it would not be worth doing so on such a large scale because it would have been expensive and unprofitable. Since they had all these contributing factors in their favor the British were able to gain profit from sugar plantations, which worked as a significant contributor towards their economy. To meet the land requirements the British picked their Caribbean colonies because of their control of that region and its climate. After finding the land for plantations, England had to find the source of labor to work these plantations. The English turned into Africa for cheap slave labor. The British had tried the local Caribbeans to work on the plantations but these people were already affected by the diseases that were brought to the area by Europeans. As a result, there were not many Caribbean people to work the

African people began to attack opposing tribes and taking captives, and then would sell the captives to the Europeans to use for slaves. They would be placed on slave ships, where they would be packed in, forced to sit with sicknesses, death and whippings. “I feared I should be put to death, the white people looked and acted, as I thought, in so savage a manner; I had never seen among any people such instances of cruelty”(Equaino, Document D) The slaves were whipped on ships and treated like animals. The statement above was a quote from a previous slave. When slavery was brought to the New World, places with large agricultural based economies had many slaves. Sugarcane slaves were slaves that worked in the fields, planting, taking care of, picking and processing sugar cane. Life expectancy for these slaves was five years. The Silver mining slaves worked in conditions that would have them underground with poor ventilation, almost complete darkness, and natural disasters. They lived longer than Sugar Slaves, and most of the time could buy their freedom. The Columbian Exchange expanded the Atlantic Slave trade, which killed too

With the advancement in irrigation technology by French engineers and the increase in the popularity of sugar, the French colony of Saint Domingue became one of the worlds largest sugar producers. With sugar came problems for the many enslaved Africans that were forced to provide manual labor for the colony's sugar harvesting efforts. Oppression, violence, inequality (of a caste-like system), and many other hardships led to hard feelings between the Africans and their white masters, the French. (Talk about here that the slaves in america were facing the same type of thing that was happening in Haiti but with cotton rather than with sugar) With such exploitation of the African slaves, which constituted a majority of the

Document A, “Sugar Cone and Tongs”, with natural resources sent from America, England used its manufacturers to mass produce sugar tongs and sell them to the colonists expensively. To colonists sugar was an everyday necessity. So inevitably they continued to buy the sugar tong( the sugar tong is used to put sugar into tea) to fill their sugar cravings. England not only sold the thing used to put the sugar into tea, the sugar tong, but the created and enforced the Sugar Act, which put a tax on sugar. The sugar tong and Sugar Act made the enjoyable hobby of consuming sugar, very expensive and outraged

DBQ Essay – What Drove the Sugar Trade? Beginning in the late 1600s and continuing through the 1700s the demand for sugar became incredibly high due to its addictive qualities. To supply the consumers with sugar they were craving, wealthy Europeans established sugar plantations throughout the Caribbean and built a thriving slave industry, so their need for cheap labor could be satisfied. Sugar consumption increased from 4.6lbs to 16.2lbs per capita annually from 1700 to 1770 due to the increasing addiction of the consumers.

Sugar is in almost everything we eat today. The reason for this is because of the Sugar Trade. The Sugar Trade was from 1655 - 1833, and it revolved around Britain, and their trade route. The Sugar Trade was driven by the climates of British colonies, the use of labor and slaves, and the high demand for sugar in Britain.

Slavery became an established activity in America by 1600’s. The slaves were mostly to provide free and cheap labor. Apart from America, slavery was practiced in other parts of the world throughout history, and in fact it can be traced back to the time of the ancient civilization. With industrial revolution especially with the rise of sugar plantations, the slaves were used to grow sugar in the periods from 1100. This intensified between 1400 and 1500 when Portugal and Spain ventured into sugar growing in the eastern Atlantic regions. The growth of the plantations required labor, hence African slaves were bought from Africa, to provide labor.

White explores the master’s sexual exploitation of their female slaves, and proves this method of oppression to be the defining factor of what sets the female slaves apart from their male counterparts. Citing former slaves White writes, “Christopher Nichols, an escaped slave living in Canada, remembered how his master laid a woman on a bench, threw her clothes over her head, and whipped her. The whipping of a thirteen-year-old Georgia slave girl also had sexual overtones. The girl was put on all fours ‘sometimes her head down, and sometimes up’ and beaten until froth ran from her mouth (33).” The girl’s forced bodily position as well as her total helplessness to stop her master’s torture blatantly reveals the forced sexual trauma many African females endured.

First, I will look at the enslavement of Africans in the New World. During this period women of African descent were raped and abused. They were deemed as sexual beings and

By then, sugar and consumer items like it had become too important to permit an archaic protectionism to jeopardize future metropolitan supplies. Sugar surrendered its place as luxury and rarity and became the first mass-produced exotic necessity of a proletarian working class.

The production and discovery of sugar grasped civilizations by its amazing taste and capabilities. Sugars effect on farming changed how the Americas farm to this day, and has also created huge trade exchanges between continents and countries . One of the main reasons for slavery to exist for so long in the Americas was because of sugars high demand. So plantation owners had to search for more sustainable workers which led them to Africa. The constant bringing of workers expanded trade in the 1500s. Sugar also led to major milestones in history and changed food in many societies. It changed how we eat and how we use our world 's resources. It led the way for modern innovations in sugar cultivation and has given us more than sweetness. Sugar has helped scientists formulate new types of fuels which could be created through sugar cane.