Sugar Canes: Open Veins Of Latin America

) During the colonial era of the Caribbean, Sugar canes became the main source of profit to the European countries and the United States. The land of the Caribbean islands such as Cuba and Jamaica were very suitable for these crops to grow. With the growth of the sugar canes, there was more intervention of not only from Europe but also the United States. Sugar became the one of the most traded goods and this created labor forces as well as a rise in economy in certain countries. However, the planting of sugar canes came with many consequences. Sugar cane plantations were some of the most successful industries in Latin America, especially in the Caribbean islands where the climate was favored. These crops were beneficial to the economies of Spain, Britain, as well as the United States. Trading sugar cane from the Caribbean islands increased the economies greatly. Cuban plantations had a monopoly on the sugar cane trade during this era. The Caribbean island supplied almost all of the sugar to the United States. In “Open Veins of Latin America”, Galeano

In lecture, we, discussed that sugar cane was a very depleting crop. It would ruin the soil preventing the growth of other crops. When natural disasters like hurricanes hit the Caribbean islands, the sugar cane crops would be destroyed. This hurt the economy greatly. The country’s economy would be directly related to the amount of sugar harvested and traded among the Europeans and the United States (Galeano 72). Since the Caribbean islands like Cuba had been harmed by the cultivation of these crops the islands had to rely on exports. They would export the sugar to the other countries and import other goods such as machinery and automobiles. This made Caribbean countries like Cuba dependent on the United States as well as the other European countries for other necessary