The Sugar Trade: The Slave Trade

The sugar trade was a million pound industry (today many billions of dollars) that forced a great migration of African people, a handful of empires expanding, and large amounts of wealth dealt to people who have never set foot in the west indies. The sugar trade was a trade between England and others to the West Indies back to England and others and around the world. The sugar trade was driven by wealthy families of England, the popularity of sugar and, also by the hard work of slaves. Wealthy families provided capital so the sugar trade would work. If you were to buy a 500 acre sugar plantation you would need at least “a sugar development plant consisting of several buildings, slave huts, a stable, several shops and stores, 300 slaves, 150

“The increased consumption of sugar and increasing demand for it, exceed all...for, such is the influence of sugar, that once touching the nerves of taste no person was ever known to have the power of relinquishing the desire for it.” The need for sugar is not surprising because no one can’t get hooked on it the second after they taste it. Because of this people want more and more sugar to feed their need of sugar. Without this need the sugar trade would not be this huge. According to a Duke university study in England over than span of 70 years in 1700-1770 the imports of sugar not only stayed inconsistent with the rise population but exceeds it, at the same time per capita consumption nearly quadruples. Sugar was needed by these men, women, and children so much that 10% of all their food purchased was sugar. All this need for sugar made the sugar trade so

Document 10 states by the year 1800 slave populations in only 4 islands were almost 1,000,000 people and sugar productions was twice that a year. The slaves produced so much sugar it fed europe too massive extents. Without the slaves there would be no sugar and no sugar trade. In the British Library there are two images depicting Africans doing hard labor on sugar plantations in the west indies with only one white person who was an overseer. Without the slave trade being apart of the sugar trade it would crumble because this work was so hard on people the only people who could do it were slaves and the sugar trade would have never existed without them. The sugar trade was a massive industry run by wealthy families in europe owning and profiting from it but slaves running it. This strengthened the economy of both the indies and Europe to leave a baseline wealth that we still see there today. It was a vital industry that help these developing nations in the