As with many other foodstuffs and spices, the history of sugar cane is a long and tumultuous one. Entire nations have been created, and millions of people have been displaced to keep the sweet substance in circulation. Sugar cane was a cure-all for European apothecaries, a currency standard for colonial merchants, and had recently found an application in sustainable development. While the over-abundance of sugar, especially from other sources, has deflated its price, it used to be a precious commodity. Historically, the sugar cane trade has been linked to the Crusades, and, most notably, to the Atlantic slave trade.
Sugar cane originated in India and had been refined into various edible forms since before the birth of Christ. It spread throughout Middle Eastern nations through trade and conquest, and, at the time of discovery by Europeans, was produced and refined by Arabs in Persia (Toussaint-Samat 497). Sugar cane only grew in hot climates with rich and moist soil, making it unviable for Europeans, and thus a rare and very expensive commodity. Sugar had been introduced to Northern European nations during the Crusades in the Holy Land. The Europeans regarded it not only as a delicacy but also as a medicine. A variety of different sweets were available as regional specialties, such as sugar crystals flavored with berries and flowers. There was an equally wide variety of sugar taxes and tariffs, lining the coffers of various landowners and governments along the trade routes. Successful sugar merchants became richer than monarchs, and many nobles from across the world participated in that market.
The discovery of the Americas and the Caribbean islands significantly changed the sugar market. Being hot, moist, and fertile, the Caribbean and the Americas were well-suited for growing sugar cane. Being an expensive trade commodity, producing and exporting cane sugar became a profitable venture for nations that previously could not grow their own sugar. The colonial-era brought economic prosperity to Portugal, England, the Netherlands, and many other European nations, and sugar played a role.
As transporting raw sugar reeds across the Atlantic was wasteful and much less efficient than simply buying from the Arabs, the colonial nations began adapting old Turkish refineries to create a syrup. It proved a better business model, and the colonists soon engaged in heated competition against each other, opening new plantations, constructing new refineries, and undercutting each other’s prices. That increased abundance made sugar significantly less expensive than it used to be, which shifted it from a coveted medicinal spice to a more reasonably-priced treat with more mainstream appeal. The consumption of sugar grew along with its production, which allowed new players to enter the arms race. France, initially lagging behind its competitors, became a significant force in the sugar market by the time of the French Revolution.
The period of prosperity and booming trade did not last forever. When other sources of sugar had been discovered and introduced to the economy, such as beets or maple sap, the price of cane sugar had wavered. The consumer trends also did not remain static, when other products such as coffee and chocolate became fashionable in Europe. These shifts in the global market meant that the sugar cane plantations and refineries had become a less profitable venture. At the same time, as these changes happened, the Native American workforce coerced into working in these refineries and plantations had steadily died off, and it became illegal to employ them. The colonies themselves were becoming less viable, as they required a lot of capital and resources imported from Europe. The colonists from the homeland that came to the New World expected good wages to compensate for poor working conditions, which the proprietors could not afford. The solution to that problem was found in the transatlantic slave trade.
By that time, using African slaves as the primary labor force in the plantations was a common practice by the colonial powers. Portugal led the pack and imported thousands of slaves to work on its plantations in Brazil. The other nations imported slaves as well, as it was the only way to keep their sugar business profitable. Slavery became the versatile and cost-effective way to ensure the survival of the Caribbean and American sugar plantations, and the sugar cane plantations remained the dominant force in the market. Despite an abundance of other viable crops and jobs, sugar still dominated the New World. 75% of all African slaves that were part of the Atlantic slave trade, worked in the sugar cane industry (Walvin 18). The colonists from all nations tried several different crops, business models, and labor forces until they all came to the same conclusion: cane sugar produced by slaves was the single best solution for the colonies to be profitable.
The slave trade reinvigorated the sugar industry after it had become unprofitable to hire European immigrants. Making cane sugar with slave labor brought prosperity to the colonial plantation owners. The volume of the product grew steadily as the colonies expanded, which meant more plantations and new refineries were established, and more slaves were needed. By the late XVIII century, 200,000 tons of cane sugar had been imported to Europe from the colonies, the overwhelming majority of which had been produced in the Caribbean. In turn, more than 11 million African slaves had been sent across the Pacific to work there, with more than a million not even survive the journey. The slave trade enabled the colonial nations to reap enormous benefits, and sugar became a staple of most of their cuisines.
After the abolition of slavery, sugar continued to be a significant export of the Caribbean and American nations. Brazil is the primary producer of sugar cane to this day, contributing to a quarter of the world’s supply. Sugar is a commonplace, reasonably cheap, and widely adopted commodity that is used in a myriad of different applications. However, a relatively novel application of the plant emerged from the recent trend of sustainable development and eco-friendly technologies. Cane sugar production leaves plenty of byproducts which, while useless for that particular industry, could be transformed into a variety of different goods. Such byproducts as bagasse, sugar cane tops, and molasses can be refined into bioethanol, biodiesel, biohydrogen, and even biodegradable plastic (Sindhu et al. 206). With the sustainability movement doubtlessly becoming one of the cornerstones of the current historical period, sugar cane may remain a significant crop that has a profound influence on global humanity, just as it did in the past.
Despite its dubious legacy tangled with transatlantic slavery and colonialism, cane sugar has ultimately become a staple in food production and a profitable business venture. The economic impact of the sugar trade is difficult to overestimate, with many nations rising to prosperity, which is as beneficial to the commoners as it is to rulers. Once an exotic pharmaceutical from beyond the vast deserts, the Indian reed traveled across the globe and became an abundant source of nutrition. It may also become an abundant source of eco-friendly fuel and polymers, once again bringing great benefits to the entire planet.
Works Cited
Sindhu, Raveendran, et al. “Bioconversion of Sugarcane Crop Residue for Value Added Products – An Overview.” Renewable Energy, vol. 98, 2016, pp. 203–215.
Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne. History of Food. Wiley-Blackwell, 2008.
Walvin, James. Slavery in Small Things: Slavery and Modern Cultural Habits, First Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2017.