![]() ![]() It was from Portugal that sugar was brought to the New World, making its way to Hispaniola (the island that hosts Haiti and the Dominican Republic), with Christopher Columbus in 1492. That began to change in the 1350s, after technological improvements doubled the output of juice obtained from a single cane, incentivising European rulers in Italy, Spain, and Portugal to invest in the development of sugarcane plantations. However, at the time, it was considered to be a highly sought-after luxury good, exorbitantly priced due to the intensity of labour required for its production. ![]() As the acclaimed historian Sidney Mintz wrote in 1985, “wherever they went, the Arabs brought with them sugar, the product and technology of its production”.īy the 11th century, sugar constituted a significant portion of trade between the East and Europe. Sugarcane, or the “Persian reed”, was then disseminated across the Middle East during the Muslim Agricultural revolution, becoming so popular that there were believed to be entire mosques made from marzipan, a pliable paste of almonds and sugar. Sugar made its way into the Arab world through India as well, when in 510 BCE, Darius I, the ruler of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, invaded India and brought sugar production technology back to Persia. Chinese documents further confirm that there were at least two missions from China to India in 647 CE, for the purpose of obtaining sugar refining technology. From India, travelling Buddhist monks brought sugarcane to China, a process enhanced by Indian envoys to the Sun kingdom who used sugar to cultivate relations with the Tang dynasty. India was the first country to figure out how to extract sugar crystals from sugarcaneįrom India, the popularity of sugar amongst the elite spread rapidly across trade routes, largely, according to Adas, because of its popularity amongst Indian sailors, for whom sugar and clarified butter (ghee) were dietary mainstays. Sugar production remained a closely guarded and highly lucrative secret for centuries, generating rich profits for Indian rulers through trade across the subcontinent. Historian Michael Adas writes in his book, Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History, that the discovery of how to turn sugarcane juice into granulated crystals was a “momentous development”. From spoonfuls stirred into our morning coffee to hidden doses in processed foods, our collective sweet tooth propels the colossal demand for sugar worldwide. According to the latest available data, an average person consumes approximately 17 teaspoons of added sugar per day, translating to a staggering annual intake of around 66 pounds (30 kg) of sugar per person. The widespread consumption of sugar is increasingly being perceived as a global health problem. At present, sugar has a near-ubiquitous presence in the diet of humans across the globe. One of the sought-after products that fed slave trade was sugar. ![]() While Dahl’s story is a work of fiction (which he “de-negroed” in 1973 amidst racial backlash,) his portrayal of the Oompa Loompas is reminiscent of how slavery was rampant in the European colonies of the 19th century. Beneath this sugary paradise, however, lay the dark underbelly of slavery, represented in the Oompa Loompas, whom Wonka proudly introduces as real people, “imported from the deepest and darkest part of the African jungle” to work in his factory in exchange for cocoa beans. In Roald Dahl’s 1964 classic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, readers are introduced to a fantastical, wonderous world, steeped in vibrant colours, chocolate rivers, and confections that defy the laws of physics. A look at the bitter journey of sugar from India to the rest of the world’ How sugar took over the world Sugar has fed a global slave trade so brutal that British abolitionist William Fox, in 1787, wrote that every sweetened cup of tea was “stained with the spots of human blood”. ![]()
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