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From the 1500s, huge sugar cane plantations in Brazil, and later in the Caribbean, fed Europe's growing appetite for sugar. The work was done by enslaved Africans, and sugar became one of the most valuable goods in Atlantic trade, making fortunes for planters, merchants and European states.

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History

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Sugar cane was first domesticated in New Guinea and was grown for centuries in Asia and around the Mediterranean, but sugar stayed expensive, treated almost as a spice. The Portuguese brought cane to Madeira in 1425 and later to Brazil. After 1625 the Dutch carried it to the Caribbean, where islands such as Barbados and Jamaica were given over almost entirely to sugar. Cutting and boiling cane was exhausting and dangerous work, disease was rife, and the plantations depended on a constant supply of newly enslaved Africans. In the late 18th century about four-fifths of the sugar traded in Europe came from British and French colonies in the Caribbean, and in Britain sweetened tea had become an everyday drink for working people. From the 1790s, many British households stopped buying slave-grown sugar in protest.

Türkçe oku
1500'lerden itibaren Avrupa'nın artan şeker talebini önce Brezilya'daki, sonra Karayipler'deki dev şeker kamışı plantasyonları karşıladı. Bu tarlalarda Afrika'dan getirilen köleler çalıştırıldı. Şeker, Atlantik ticaretinin en değerli mallarından biri oldu; plantasyon sahiplerini, tüccarları ve Avrupa devletlerini zengin etti.

Şeker kamışı ilk kez Yeni Gine'de tarıma alındı ve yüzyıllarca Asya'da ve Akdeniz çevresinde yetiştirildi. Yine de şeker pahalı bir mal olarak kaldı; neredeyse bir baharat gibi görülürdü. Portekizliler kamışı 1425'te Madeira Adası'na, daha sonra da Brezilya'ya götürdü. 1625'ten sonra Hollandalılar onu Karayipler'e taşıdı; Barbados ve Jamaika gibi adalar neredeyse baştan sona şeker tarlasına dönüştü. Kamış kesmek ve suyunu kaynatmak ağır ve tehlikeli bir işti, hastalık da yaygındı; plantasyonlar ancak Afrika'dan durmadan yeni köleler getirilerek ayakta kalabiliyordu. 18. yüzyılın sonlarında Avrupa'da alınıp satılan şekerin beşte dördü Karayipler'deki İngiliz ve Fransız sömürgelerinden geliyordu; Britanya'da şekerli çay işçilerin gündelik içeceği olmuştu. 1790'lardan itibaren pek çok Britanyalı aile, köle emeğiyle üretilen şekeri protesto etmek için almamaya başladı.

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Background reading: History of sugar
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