“THE SUGAR REVOLUTION”

SUGAR
By the 16th Century sugar was fast
becoming a necessity in Europe.
Sugar was needed for a variety of
different things from distilling and
brewing to the making of cakes and
biscuits.
Origins of Sugar
 The type of sugar cane which Columbus introduced to the
West Indies in 1493 originated in India in about 3000 BC

 It came to Europe by way of Arabia and was known to the

Spaniards in the eight century AD

 The sugar taken to Hispaniola in 1493 came directly from

Cyprus to the Canary Island in 1491 and from the Canary
Island to Hispaniola

 Some Canary islanders were also transported to help in

cultivation
Change from Tobacco to Sugar

 During the early years of settlement tobacco was the

primary crop. Several factors accounted for the
changeover from tobacco to sugar cane cultivation:
1. West Indian Tobacco could not compete neither in
quantity nor in quality with that of the American colony
of Virginia.
2. Like tobacco, sugar-cane was a tropical product and
the growing of product was conducive to the climate.
3. The production of sugar also presented no real
transportation problems as sugar was not too bulky to
be transported on the small ships of the time.
Change from Tobacco to Sugar

4.The introduction of tea and coffee to Europe resulted

in a greater demand for commodities to sweeten
these products.
5.The English colonists readily accepted sugar as an
alternative crop due to the efforts of the Dutch. The
Dutch were expelled from Brazil by the Portuguese
which led to tremendous economic losses. In order
to regain these losses the Dutch not only supplied
the English with the know how to produce sugar
but they also supplied slaves to work on the
plantations as well.
Consequences of the Sugar Revolution

Sugar profoundly changed the economic

conditions, social structure and political
organization of the islands.
 Previously tobacco was produced on relatively
small plots. These plots were much to small to
cultivate sugar. Hence small estates adjacent to
larger ones were acquired.
 As sugar became more profitable and the
demand for land increased so did the price of
land.
Consequences of the Sugar Revolution

 The change to sugar also affected the racial

composition of the colonies.
 Many of the whites who worked on the
tobacco plantations found new work as inn
keepers, clerks etc.
 Others returned to Europe or migrated to the
United States .
 Many of the European bondservants who
worked on the plantations also left.
Consequences of the Sugar Revolution

 Sugar cultivation required a large disciplined

workforce. The importation of negroes from
Africa began.
 In 1640 in Barbados their was approximately
a few hundred slaves, by 1645 their was over
6,000 and 1685 their were over 45,000.
 In contrast the white population decreased
from 40,000 in 1645 to about 20,000 by 1685.
Consequences of the Sugar Revolution

 The cultivation of sugar also increased the wealth to

be obtained from the West Indies. This led to a
change in in the system of governing the West
Indies. The islands had previously been neglected
by the British. However their recent profitability
caused the British to bring their islands in the West
Indies under closer control.
 The increasing wealth of the West Indian colonies
also caused the other European nations to attempt
to wrestle the colonies away from one another.
Scenarios

 Ted Smart is a Tobacco producer in the

American colony of Virginia. He produces large
amounts of tobacco that is of a very high quality.

 Steven Wilson is a tobacco producer in the island

of Barbados. He to produces tobacco however
he doesn’t produce as much tobacco as Ted
Smart, and the quality of his tobacco is not of a
high quality.
Scenarios

 If you had the choice of buying tobacco from

either Ted or Steven who would you buy
tobacco from?
 Do you think that Steven Wilson will continue
to produce tobacco?
Scenarios

 Steven Wilson hears about a product that

everyone in Europe is using to sweeten their
tea and to bake. The product is called sugar.
Columbus brought Sugar to the New World
on one of his voyages from the Canary
islands.

What would you do if you were in Steven’s

position?
Scenarios

 In order to produce sugar the Dutch

merchants tell Steven that he will need large
amounts of land and a large labour force.
When Steven was producing tobacco he had
a relatively small labour force made up of first
Amerindians and then European
bondservants. He also used a small piece of
land to produce tobacco.
Scenarios

 Steven’s neighbor Scott also plants tobacco but he

decides that instead of producing sugar he will move
back to Europe. Steven decides that he will produce
sugar. In order to do so he decides to buy Scott’s
tobacco plantation. Other tobacco producers in
Barbados decide to follow Steven’s lead and they
begin to look to acquire more land to produce sugar.

 What do you think will happen to the price of land in

Barbados?
Scenarios

 Now that Steven has acquired more land he now

needs to acquire labour to work on the sugar
plantation. The Dutch merchants advise Steven to
use the Africans as a form of labour. The Dutch
merchants tell Steven that he will need about 150
Africans to work on his plantation. Steven agrees
to this plan and many of the other tobacco planter
who have decided to plant sugar follow his lead.
 What will happen to the population of the West
Indian colonies?
Scenarios

 Steven and his fellow sugar planter’s have now

begun to successfully produce sugar. Due to the fact
that there is a large amount of people who wish to
buy sugar Steven and his fellow sugar planter’s make
huge profits. The British government who had
previously neglected the West Indian colonies, now
decide to pay more attention to them as the colonies
are now making immense profits.
 The British government implement a system of
government that allows them to have more control
of the West Indian colonies.
Exercise

 Based on the scenarios that you have just heard

about answer the following questions:
 Identify two reasons why the West Indian planters
change from producing tobacco to sugar?
 Examine the changes that took place in the West
Indian colonies due to the change from tobacco to
sugar.
 Which of the changes that took place fall under
the following headings:
 Social, Economic and Political.
 Sugar Revolution
 “Sugar Revolution” should only be applied to the change
from tobacco to sugar cultivation which took place:
 In the mid to late seventeenth century
 In the eastern Caribbean islands belonging to the English
and French
 Where the monoculture of sugar became the rule
 Where the social changes were equally revolutionary, e.g.
small holdings were swallowed by large estates;
indentured servants were dispossessed; black slaves
dominated the populations by a ratio of at least 10 to 1
 Sugar Revolution
 There was no “ Sugar Revolution” in the Greater Antilles
because:
 Sugar cultivation and production developed slowly
 Sugar was never cultivated to the exclusion of other
farming
 White urban and rural population always remained a
large population of the total population
 Cuba was so large that for two hundred years the Spanish
hardly needed another source of sugar
Reasons for The Sugar Revolution
 West Indian tobacco prices fell when tobacco from Virginia, in
greater quantity and of better quality, began to be sold in Europe

 The Dutch who were loosing their colonies of Brazil between 1624
and 1654, helped the English and French colonies begin sugar
cultivation with capital, expertise, slaves and transport

 Barbados changed from tobacco to sugar in the decade 1640 and

1650, the epitome of the sugar revolution

 Concomitant changes were the increase in the size of land

holdings; fall in numbers of land owners; increase in land prices;
polarization of society into white planters and black slaves; and a
black to white ratio of at least 10:1
Other facts relating to “The Sugar Revolution”

 The Leeward Islands experienced the sugar revolution

later than Barbados. It lasted longer but was not so
complete

 Jamaica rapidly became a sugar island after 1670 but

sugar was not replacing anything

 St Domingue became the leading sugar producer of the

French islands but it was a new colony

 Martinique and Guadeloupe experienced gradual

revolutions over the period of 1670 to 1770, but these
were incomplete as tobacco growing and small holding
remained
 Cultivation of Sugar Cane
 Before sugar cane was cultivated the land had to be
prepared

 The ground had to be cleared of bush, shrubs and grass

and where necessary drainage and irrigation canals dug

 Because there were no ploughs tilling was done by the

slaves with heavy digging hoes

 This process was called “holing”

Cultivation of Sugar Cane
 Holes were dug about 4 feet square and from
6-9 inches deep

 The hole was filled with manure, soil and a

cane cutting

 In 12- 15 months the crop was ready for

reaping
Cultivation of Sugar Cane
 The reaping was usually done by slaves using
cutlasses and machetes
 Cut canes were tied in bundles and transported
to factories in carts
Manufacturing of Sugar
 At the factory the canes were passed through
mills consisting of rotating iron rollers
 The juice or liquid was extracted and conveyed
by gutters into receptacles called siphons
 The cane trash was collected, dried and used as
fuel under the various boilers
 The siphons of juice were clarified by heating,
the impurities were skimmed off and later used
with molasses in the distillation of rum
Manufacturing of Sugar

 The liquor was transferred to a large boiler

where it was heated until it became so thick
that one drop would stretch between ones
fingers
 The sticky substance was emptied into a large
shallow cooler where it remained until it was
almost cold
 It remained in this position for 3 wks during
which the molasses dripped out leaving behind
sugar crystals
Labour force before African
slavery
 The profits of the sugar planters depended on
having enough labor for the yearly cycle of
planting, hoeing, cutting, hauling, crushing,
boiling and packing
 However it was becoming difficult to recruit
European labor on the most desperate Europeans
would leave home for such plantation work
 So the planters came to rely for their labor on
dishonest recruiters
 The recruiters signed up simple youths who had
no idea where the sugar islands were and what
future to expect
Labor continued..

 European suppliers often kidnapped sailors

and fishermen and hustled them on board a
ship bound for the West Indies
 Convicts and prisoners of war were another
means of acquiring labor
 Convicts and prisoners did not meet the
growing demand of English and French
planters for more labor therefore they turn to
the Africans
THE END

Questions