When you hear the word ‘sugar’, what comes to mind? You may think of tea sweeteners, cakes, ice cream and refreshing juices, among many other palatable delights. Sugar is a commodity used world over and serves
multiple household and commercial uses. However, this golden grain isn’t just an ingredient to satisfy your palate, it is rich in history and has fueled great world changing events throughout time.
This Emancipation Day, take a grain of sugar, place it in your palm and observe it! Why? You may be asking yourself, what possible world changing events could this golden grain have influenced?
Sugar changed the so called ‘new world’ – the Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas, which includes the Caribbean and Bermuda – largely through fueling the Industrial Revolution (IR). However, this did not happen overnight; IR was made possible because it was financed by the profits made from the blood, sweat and tears of enslaved Africans working the sugar plantations. The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the late 1700s – the time in history when a mechanical approach was adapted to manufacturing.
Advancements in technology and globalisation, reflected the increase demand for sugar for dietary and medicinal purposes. Meeting this demand meant more efficient manufacturing methods, which shifted the need to special-
purpose machinery and factories.
Prior to the Revolution, sugar manufacturing was done on the plantation with human resources (enslaved Africans) rather than machinery. Between the 18th and 19th century, Jamaica became known as “the jewel of the British Crown,” producing 22% of the world’s sugar. The plantations were large, self-sufficient properties found typically on lowlands, which had dwellings for plantations owners, managers and labourers. There were work yards, which consisted of the mill, boiling house, curing house, distillery, trash house and workshops for skilled craftsmen. There were woodlands on the plantations and of course, the priceless cane fields!
To continue reading , purchase Vol. 8 #1 2015 issue