Rajiv Goswami The increasing commodification of sugar from the 1500s onward has had lasting implications in both the New and Old Worlds. In Sweetness and Power by Sidney W. Mintz, the anthropological interpretation of the evolution of the sugar industry highlights how Europe transitioned from mercantilism to capitalism, agriculture to industry, class changes, and an overall increase in the quality of life. The Caribbean colonies saw an influx of African slaves and Europeans, with the former transforming the islands from backwaters into ultra- profitable cash crop centers, exacerbating the slave trade while increasing returns on investments for their European financiers. While Europe saw sugar as factor in bridging class differences, African …show more content…
In the emerging years of the trade, the system of royal monopoly control and their trade as practiced by Spain and Portugal in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries proved to be inefficient and expensive, with trans-Atlantic enforcement being infeasible. However, the respective crowns tried maintaining as much control as they could over their subjects who were involved in overseas settlement and trade. Great Britain passed the Navigation Acts in 1651 which explicitly forbade British vessels from trading with rival powers stated, “Goods of the growth, production, or manufacture of Asia, Africa, or America, shall be imported only by ships that belong to the people of the British Commonwealth.” This protectionist measure ensured that the highly lucrative profits would be made from the natural resources and industries in the colonies, securing advantages for the products in Great Britain. Competition erupted between the British and rival powers, leading to military conflicts such as the Anglo- Dutch war. Competition with Spain led to Britain’s annexation of Spanish Jamaica. Britain's navy is noted to have been the most advanced in the world and this force drove England’s monopoly over the sugar trade. British superiority is noted in Sweetness and Power, when it states, “As English sugar became …show more content…
It is stated, “The first half of the eighteenth century…a period of increased purchasing power for laboring people…,” (Mintz, 118). It is this dependency of the English populace to a large influx of sugar which, in line with the supply-demand theory, lowers the price of sugar and makes it more affordable. Where there was not demand, the sugar trade effectively created one. Though not nutritionally beneficial, sugar became a proletarian commodity which helped sustain England’s labor force. However, the increasing dependency reinforced and propelled the enslavement of Africans for the cultivation of the sugar cane in the West Indies. Samuel Dicker, a member of the House of Commons, wrote in his Letter to Parliament, “If a planter, to all his other advanced charges, hath a further duty laid upon his commodity, he will be disabled from purchasing every year a fresh supply of negroes…disabled of making the quantity of sugar,” (Dicker, 1). Dicker was an outspoken supporter of African slaves being brought into the Caribbean and was even appointed a councilor of Jamaica in the mid-1730s. He tried convincing his audience of English parliamentarians that for their own livelihoods, the sugar trade, and slavery, must continue for the superficial reason that England had grown to love the taste of sugar in their diet. Furthermore, by 1790, African slaves in Jamaica (Port Royal) outnumbered the British twenty to one, with the imbalance steadily
In American Colonies, Alan Taylor argues that “the sugar boom revolutionized the economy, landscape, demography and social structure of Barbados.” (p.210). Sugar became very important for everyone who grew it, especially in Barbados. By 1660, Barbados made the most sugar consumed by England. This made “more trade and capital than all other English colonies combined.”
1. Quakers- Quakers condemned extravagance. They were prosecuted in England because they refused to serve in the military or pay taxes. Quakers tried to rectory Christianity.
The Navigation Acts starting in 1650 were a chain of laws that puts the theory of mercantilism in the colonies. The English realized that the colonies were an abundant source of wealth and trade. These acts had a string of negative effects on the colonist. In imposing the acts the colonist had to trade with England had to be on English or colonial ships. When the colonist shipped their goods to England, the prices
The British men gathered full control of the trading center present in the Americas, and created the Navigation Acts to help aid them in their tactics to take control over all trade within the Americas. The Navigation Acts were passed under a mercantilist system, and was used to regulate trade in a way that only benefitted the British economy. These acts restricted trade between England and its colonies to English or colonial ships, required certain colonial goods to pass through England before export, provided subsidies for the production of certain raw goods in the colonies, and banned colonial competition in large-scale manufacturing. This lowered the competition in the trading world for the British and caused the British to have a major surge in power, that greatly attributed to the growth of their rising empire. The British’s ambitious motives in the trading world help portray a way that the British took control of an important piece in the economy of all of the other nations present in the colonies in the time period, and shows another leading factor in the growth of the British empire.
They were able to trade with basically whoever they wanted to, participating lucratively in the Triangular Trade. With this, many merchants lined the coast of the Americas, patiently awaiting the incoming slaves from Africa or the goods from England, while greedily exporting their tobacco. Many established a life off of this competitive economic system, trying to soak up the finite wealth of the world. After the French and Indian War, which was a war fought for control of more land against the French, the English realized that they needed to tighten their strings in
What Drove the Sugar Trade? The sugar trade began in 1655 and became a big deal to Britain. Wealthy men would buy property, produce sugar, and sell it to their home country for a low price. (Document 7) Sugar was a product that could be bought and sold easily, since it was in high demand.
They brought back sugar, rum, molasses, limes, cocoa, and ginger. Simple enough; but this trade up and down the Atlantic coast was part of a much larger world system” (Aronson & Budhos pg 37). “The enslaved people were shipped across the Atlantic to the islands, where they were sold for sugar” (Aronson & Budhos pg 37). The Age of Sugar lead to slavery, poor conditions for workers, and freedom.
Navigation Acts- In 1660, King Charles II created the Navigation Acts, a restriction on British trade with the purpose of benefitting the British economy. These three acts aided with the increased production of products from the New World and encouraged a shipbuilding industry specific to the colonies. This system helped England because they did not have to import items from rival countries; they simply had to import goods from their own
On any sizeable sugar plantation expensive goods and equipment were necessary if it was to produce effectively and therefore it was a substantial investment (Doc 6). Peter Macinnis refers to this need for considerable investment as the first curse of sugar; due to the fact that establishing a sugar plantation was an expensive endeavor only families that already had the means were able to do so (Doc 7). Without slaves the sugar industry would have failed, almost every aspect of the process of manufacturing sugar was done by slaves, as the demand rose so did the number of slaves, but there was a high price to pay if one was to acquire the amount of slaves necessary on a large plantation (Doc
Marielle Apronti Prof. Oscar Williams AAFS 311 4 March 2018 The Trans-Atlantic slave trade was the most important factor when considering the early development of European capitalism. The arrival of the Portuguese to the West African Coast and their establishment of trading and slave ports throughout the continent set in stone a trend of exploitation of Africa 's labor and human resources. Europeans greatly benefited from the Trans-Atlantic trade, as it allowed them to aggregate raw materials such as sugar and cotton to manufacture products that funded the Industrial Revolution. In the book “Capitalism and Slavery” by Eric Williams he addresses the origin of “Negro” history, the economic and political impact of slavery in Great Britain, the role of the American Revolution and the decline of slavery in Great Britain.
Sugar was important in the Industrial Revolution because it encouraged more productive sugar factories, fueled factory labor, and contributed to the shift to a "free" trade system. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, sugar was produced by colonial plantations utilizing coerced labor (slavery). Though slaves were not paid, the costs of sugar production kept prices high, making sugar a luxury good inaccessible to common people. Following the Industrial Revolution, factories with better technologies created highly productive sugar plantations, increasing the supply of sugar. With the adoption of free trade and thus the economic theory of fluctuating markets, sugar was sold at lower prices to accommodate the higher supply.
The Atlantic world from 1492 to 1750 experienced economic and social transformations due to new contacts among the major continents that bordered the Atlantic Ocean. Western Europe, Africa, and the Americas saw dramatic economic and social changes caused by the slave trade, the increase of trade, and the Europeans “discovery” of America. The Atlantic world experienced great Economic changes created by the new global connections established between continents that allowed the expansion of trades, slave trades, and the claiming of land. Due to the new found connections the participants of trade all over the world brought home new goods, mainly from Europe, and materials previously never seen before or goods they were in need of.
Through Jay’s Treaty England gave America the “most favored nation” status, which meant that American merchants got a break on taxes on imported goods; “.. they shall pay no other higher duties or charges on the importation or exportation of the cargoes of the said vessels…(Phillips 146)” By having reduced trading costs Americans were able gain benefit because
Through the slave trade owners were able to buy slaves for cheap and sell them off for expensive prices, contributing to their riches. High demand for sugar was another factor that leads to the growth of Atlantic slavery. In an illustration by E.T Paris titled " the sugar hogshead" depicts a community where everyone had gathered together to get some sugar. " This is followed by a caption on 3B, which states, "The increased consumption of sugar, and increasing demand for it, exceed all comparison with any other article, used as an auxiliary, in food: for, such is the influence of sugar, the once touching the nerves of taste no person was ever known to have the power of relinquishing the desire for it. " (407).
During the 15th and 16th centuries, Europe became interested in other countries: their wealth and trade options. Specifically, Africa and the West Indies, for they were affluent in gold and spices (Arnold 11). “The economic drive behind the expansion was… a search for markets of European