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what drove the sugar
10/4/13
What Drove The Sugar Trade? Sugar is a very tempting and delightful sweetener to foods used every day, all over the world to satisfy our appetites. One year after Christopher Columbus’s first voyage in 1493, Columbus introduced cane sugar to the islands of the Caribbean. During this time sugar was not known to most people in Europe. That changed soon enough and caused the production of sugar to become a large industry. The sugar trade was driven by land and climate, consumer demand, and the economy. Land and climate was a major factor in driving the sugar trade. Included in Document 1 is a Colonial Map of the Caribbean. The map presents that most Caribbean land are colonized by the British, French, and Spanish. Referring the map to Document 2, explains that an ideal climate average for the growth of cane sugar is sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit to ninety degrees Fahrenheit which slaves are forcefully working and growing sugar out in the heat. It is an evident fact the British, French, and Spanish bought this land using slaves in an undesirable climate to grow lots of sugar on their land which pushed the sugar trade. Displayed in Document 6, are requirements of what a sugar plantation of five hundred acres should require. A few of the requirements are a boiling house, distilling house, rum house, and salt provisions. All of these houses on this one large piece of land help advance the sugar trade by the production of sugar all being done in one place. Land and climate drove the sugar trade by having great geography, weather, location, and temperature. Consumer demand was another main component of advancing the sugar trade. In Document 4, the author Sidney W. Mintz stated, “…all contain stimulants and can be properly classified as drugs (together with tobacco and rum, though clearly different both in effects and addictiveness).” In this quote, the author is referring to tea, coffee, and chocolate, and the use of sugar in them. It is evident that

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