THE SUGAR REVOLUTION

REVISION

REVISION
 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
 Sugar
Revolution

• Sugar Revolutionµ 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 Revolutionµ in the Greater Antilles because:

Sugar cultivation and production developed slowly
Sugar was never cultivated to the exclusion of otherfarming
 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 innkeepers, 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 Indiancolonies also caused the
other European nationsto attempt to wrestle the colonies away
fromone 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 does
not 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.
ACTIVITY #1 SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
• By the middle of the 1600s, most tobacco farmers were worried about the
slump in the tobacco industry. There were those, however, who had come
to accept sugar as the most likely alternative to tobacco. Little did they
know of the economic or social consequences of the changeover to sugar.
(a) Outline TWO reasons for the changeover from the production of tobacco
to sugar. (4 marks)
(b) Describe THREE economic outcomes of the changeover to sugar. (9 marks)
(c) Explain THREE social changes that resulted from the introduction of
sugar. (12 marks)
Total 25 marks
(past paper, 2012)
ACTIVITY #1 SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
• B (past paper, 2013)
Activity #2

• Use the R.A.F.T. method to describe the

causes and effects of the sugar revolution in
the Caribbean