Competition from Cuba and Brazil was not the only reason for the problems in the British West Indies sugar industry in the late 19th century. Sugar cane was the main export in the British West Indies which experienced problems due to the controversial sugar duty act and the lack of technological investment on the plantation. In this essay I would seek to explain increased competition from foreign sources, competition from beet sugar producers, the price of sugar declined because of a glut on the market and planters lack sufficient capital to invest in technology and production.
Firstly the British West Indies experienced problems from the sugar duties act. The British West Indies sugar duties act was in place from 1846 and was set to reduce preferential duties by 1854. William Green notes that “the differential tax on foreign sugar was to be systematically reduced by 1s. 6d. a year until by 1851 all sugar entering the United Kingdom would pay no duties.” This act is sometimes known as the equalization act. This opened up the market for a further competition in sugar. Before this act...
The sugar trade lasted from 1492-1700s. The Sugar Trade was a huge worldwide event. It caused African people leaving their country to go work on the sugar plantations.
The aforementioned topics of establishment in the New World and treatment of slaves on plantations were recurring throughout the book. The book did a good job illustrating why Caribbean countries like Barbados were central in the triangular trade between England, the West Indies, and America commonly comes up in middle school history classes. One of the hard to believe aspects of the book is the idea that merchants seemed to stumble into their fortune and were only where they were due to the work done by the slaves from before sun rise to after sun
Firstly, the Caribbean smuggling was viewed as necessary and positive in the late eighteenth century. According to William Taggart, a British sailor traveling to testify at his smuggling trial in April 1760, the illegal transportation of goods from the Spanish port of Monte Christi led to general prosperity in the area, as there were only 100 relatively poor families and that the governor had full knowledge of this and demanded a tax of one silver Spanish coin. Taggart mi...
Scarano, Francisco, "Sugar and Slavery in Puerto Rico, 1815-1849: An Overview," from Scarano, Sugar and Slavery in Puerto Rico: The Plantation Economy of Ponce, 1800-1850 (Madison: U of Wisconsin Press, 1984), 3-34
Curtin, Philip D: The rise and fall of the plantation complex:essays in Atlantic history (Cambridge, 1990).
Sugar, also known as “white gold” was discovered in the Americas in the 1400s. As it became more popular, sugar set people in motion throughout the world for the purpose of building wealth; However, as a result of this, consequences of building global connections are still felt to this day. Sugar trade changed the global economy because it was a profitable resource in high demand-especially within the workforce. Consequently, it affected the worldwide working class, and also encouraged maritime trade.
The rapid growth of sugar as a food has a long and intertwining history that originated in New Guinea. Following the production, consumption, and power that corresponds with sugar, one is able to see numerous causes and effects of the changes underway in the world between 1450 and 1750. The production of sugar in the Americas eventually led to not only the creation of the Atlantic Slave Trade, but also enhanced commerce. Consumption of sugar through rapid trade thoroughly helped to develop modern capitalism. The power that sugar generated dramatically changed the economic, social, and political fate of the nation as a whole.
One of the major ways a colony can strengthen a nation is by providing it with another economic market. As a result of Industrialization, production was too high for consumer demand in Europe. Jules Ferry wrote an appeal to the French, urging colonization. In his appeal he wrote, "The European consumer-goods market is saturated: unless we declare modern society bankrupt and prepare, at the dawn of he twentieth century, for its liquidation by revolution (the consequences of which we can scarcely foresee), new consumer markets will have to be created in other parts of the world" (pg.259 source3). Meaning that unless there is another market to sell national products to, then employment could decline drastically within the nation and eventually cause revolution. Englishman, Joseph Chamberlain, once gave a speech to the Birmingham Relief Association in 1894. In this speech Chamberlain stated, "That in order that we may have more employment to give we must create more demand" (pg.259 source4). This proves that the idea of a foreign market as a means of economic power was widespread among Europeans at the time. Both an Englishman and a Frenchmen used the same argumen...
Economic concerns of the British caused the colonization of British North America. Such economic concerns included the opportunity to acquire gold, silver, a North American waterway that would lead directly to China and the Indies, and the prospect of countering Spain's dominance in North America (Boorstin et al. 34). In addition to these economic reasons for colonization, the English were also seeking to obtain the essential "raw materials" in America that they had been previously buying from other European countries for exorbitant amounts of money and gold (Boorstin et al. 34). Great Britain also sought to solve other economic problems through American colonization. For example, England needed to replenish some of its diminishing materials and assets, generate another "market" to export its cargo and merchandise, maintain its powerful navy and "merchant marine" through business with new American colonies, and to provide a new place for the unemployed to settle rather than escalating populace/crime and the economic burden in its own cities (Boorstin et al. 34).
The Sugar Act was passed in 1764 after the French and Indian war. The taxes brought about by the Sugar Act were different than the previous colonial taxes because they were not put in place to support the British economy but to replenish Parliament’s empty treasury. According to Revolution, an article written by Eric Foner and John Garraty, the act was intended “to prevent trade with the French West Indies” because Parliament “passed a prohibitive tariff on sugar, molasses, and other
One facet of this unique system involved the numerous economic differences between England and the colonies. The English government subscribed to the economic theory of mercantilism, which demanded that the individual subordinate his economic activity to the interests of the state (Text, 49). In order to promote mercantilism in all her colonies, Great Britain passed the Navigation Acts in 1651, which controlled the output of British holdings by subsidizing. Under the Navigation Acts, each holding was assigned a product, and the Crown dictated the quantity to be produced. The West Indies, for example, were assigned sugar production and any other colony exporting sugar would face stiff penalties (Text, 50). This was done in order to ensure the economic prosperity of King Charles II, but it also served to restrict economic freedom. The geographical layout of the American colonies made mercantilism impractical there. The cit...
Sugar is not only a sweet substance used in coffee, cookies, and many other sweet tasting foods we love to eat and enjoy. It is truly a good that changed the world in many ways all the way back to its roots. In more than one way sugar is a useful and profitable tool, originating all the way back to the early middle middle ages. The sugar trade impacted the the Earth both socially and politically with the use of slaves brought to the Americas by the middle passage and other places. Economically, especially when prices dropped due to new technological improvements and slave abolishment all over the world. Lastly, the sugar trade impacted the world culturally, by leading
However, based on the statistics of plantation records and colonial office papers corroborating Williams’ thesis, one can argue that it was the dwindling West Indian Sugar economy which fostered the granting of emancipation.
Cesar J, Ayala. 1999. American Sugar Kingdom. The plantation economy of the Spanish Caribbean. University of North Carolina press.
Probably some of the most pleasurable and enjoyable memories of a person has to do with sweets. When thinking back to birthdays, there is always the memory of the wonderful cake that mother beautifully made and decorated with frosting and glazes. A typical night out with dad can be transformed into a magical evening with a trip to the ice cream parlor. The end of a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner turns heavenly when a hot apple pie is brought to the table and topped with delicious, melting vanilla ice cream. A good wedding is never complete without the cutting of the splendid multi-level wedding cake, when the happy new couple gets to playfully shove and smear cake and white frosting into each other’s smiling faces. Everyone knows that as a child, the only good part about going to the dentist is getting the candy bar at the end of the visit. Why do some people get sick after eating too much suger? Some people do not even know that the abuse of sugar can lead to negative effects on your body. There is something strangely enjoyable and resplendent about the consumption of sugar. Why is it that sugar is so deliciously enjoyable and at the same time a food product that has many negative affects on people’s health?