The sugar Revolution

• The Sugar Revolution occurred in the English and French colonies during the 1600s.
• The Sugar Revolution was the period in which sugar cane rapidly replaced tobacco as the chief cash crop.
• The Sugar Revolution began in Barbados in the 1640s.
• The causes of the Sugar Revolution included Virginia being one of Britain’s thirteen American colonies and the colonists there growing tobacco for export to Britain.
• Virginia could produce almost 500 000 lbs of tobacco a year but islands such as Barbados and St. Kitts could only amass a combined total of 100 000 lbs a year.
• The tobacco grown in Virginia was better than that grown in the West Indies and as the British demanded more, Virginia could easily supply it.
• Eventually, there was a glut of tobacco in Britain but Britons did not want the poor quality, expensive West Indian tobacco.
• Sugar cane was the most suitable crop because it shared some similarities with tobacco.
• Both were tropical crops that could be grown in West Indian soils and could be easily transported across the Atlantic Ocean.
• There was also a change in cultural habits across Europe, including an increased consumption in tea and coffee especially in Britain, cocoa becoming popular, not only as a drink but for making chocolate bars, and a need for sugar for the brewing and distilling processes.
• Honey was traditionally used by the elite in Britain to sweeten their beverages, but in order for the masses to be able to buy these hot beverages, an affordable sweetener was necessary.
• The Dutch made the change from tobacco to sugar possible in the English and French West Indies by supplying credit to British cane planters and bringing African slaves to help grow cane and produce sugar.
• The racial composition of the territories changed as the number of whites steadily declined and the number of blacks rapidly increased during the Sugar Revolution.
• The major European nations, especially Britain and France, fought for control of the islands in the Caribbean during the Sugar Revolution as profits were made, the countries in the Caribbean became wealthier.
• Slave laws were developed to control the enslaved Africans in the French territories, these were called Le Code Noir.
• Each British territory made their own slave laws and those made in Barbados were the most severe.
• Society became highly divided/stratified based on an individual’s colour and wealth during the Sugar Revolution, with the rich planters at the top and the black slaves at the bottom.
• Sugar cane became the main export crop and this led to the development of a mono-crop economy during the Sugar Revolution.
• Lands ownership changed regularly in the first years of the Sugar Revolution and the price of land as well as the size of plantations also increased.
• The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was developed during the Sugar Revolution to provide the African labour needed in the West Indies and supply Britain with the raw materials needed to make manufactured goods.