Bloody Sugar

Stanley Russo

History-101-B

Professor Kimberly Morse

April 20, 2023

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Few resources are as used, sought after, and addicting as cane sugar. Grown primarily in

the Americas, white grains of sugar turn men into beasts and nations into empires. In the

seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, sugar boosted the European economy while destroying the

lives of millions. Sugar became a commodity that thousands could not live without at the cost of

one million more lives. Sugar supported Europe’s economy because it could be taxed and sold,

and it encouraged the Atlantic Slave trade and the use of slavery in the Americas.

Before Spanish settlements in modern-day Mexico and Cuba, Europeans had to travel

around the Cape of Good Hope to access luxury items such as silk, spices, and porcelain. With

an economy lesser than China, a military lesser than India’s, and maps lesser than the Ottomans,

European merchants could only buy the lowest quality goods for a high price. Europe’s economy

could never rival East Asia until the establishment of New World colonies. Silver and Gold were

being extracted from Mexico and pumped into European banks.

The Americas turned into a blooming market centered on sugar and other exports.

Because of a lack of natural goods in Europe, the Americas helped sustain Europe’s economy

and exports. The Caribbean and Brazilian sugar businesses provided jobs for thousands both in

Europe and not. “...what a prodigious number of ships, of sailors, of merchants, of tradesmen,

manufacturers, mechanics, and laborers are continually employed…” (1745, 101).

Unlike most European farmlands, sugar was grown on a large scale involving countless

machines, ships, and people. For sugar to continue to fund these large-scale industrial operations,

open ports and low tariffs were needed. Sugar transportation over long distances helped push the

need for investments in overseas expeditions. Sugar also created the mercantile system to help

lessen competition with neighboring countries. Exports from the New World into the Old World

helped fund projects and wars. While the notion of heavily taxing sugar was tempting, it was
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untenable. The Letter to Parliament argues that because American Creoles had to purchase all of

their goods from Europe, mounting economic pressure could cause the American sugar industry

to collapse, and the European economy would fall alongside it (1745).

By the 18th century, European nations had monopolized goods from The New World.

Sugar’s addictive properties made it immensely profitable, especially in the middle east and

Asia, where coffee and tea were born. Dr. Slare once said, “Nor do I decry and condemn

coffee… especially where [ladies] join with it a quantity of fine sugar.” (Slare 1715, 96). While

sugar was correctly under scrutiny by many, some doctors swore by its medical properties.

Fredrick Slare argues in his writings that sugar has enabled him to outlive hundreds of peers in

his juniors and continue into his sixties (Slare 1715, 97).

With an addictive commodity held in European hands, mercantile and economic power

moved away from the Far East. This wealth made possible the importation of 263,700 slaves into

the Caribbean islands between the years 1640 and 1713 (Dunn 1713, 103). This number only

includes the number of slave imports and not the actual number of slaves. Terrible working

conditions attributed to the sugar-making process could be done only by people forced to do so.

A vicious cycle formed where slaves became imported due to sugar, and slaves were used to

make sugar. The demand for sugar and the profit reaped from sugar fueled the Atlantic Slave

Trade, and sugar created a dependence on slave labor in the Americas for generations to come.

Most imported African slaves were boys and men between the ages of ten years and

twenty-five years old (Adelman 2002, 434). A preference for slaves created a gender imbalance

in Africa lead to destabilized societies, populations, and a weaker workforce. Due to political

rivalries and stresses, government officials and leaders within Africa became the targets of

slavers. Some, like Mahonmah Baquaqua, were targeted by ‘...an envious class of
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countrymen…’ (Baquaqua 1854, 116). Sugar did not only affect those involved, but it still hurt

people who had nothing to do with sugar. The cannibalization of Africa destroyed nations, and it

helped make the continent ripe for colonization in the coming century.

Sugar is an addicting commodity that fueled the European economy. Its large-scale

farming operations created countless opportunities, and it was exceptionally profitable. Sugar

helped push for better innovations like the mercantile system and inventions like steam power.

Unfortunately, sugar plantations created a dependency on slave labor and the Atlantic Slave

trade. Sugar was needed to fuel European diets and the economy, and sugar relied on slave labor,

and slave imports relied on the European economy. Creating a vicious cycle of sugar turned men

into beasts and nations into empires.

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Bibliography