The History of Sugar

Did you know that slavery and sugar trade have a lot in common? It all started when other European countries began to set up sugar plantation in their colonies. They wanted slaves to work for them. So, in a system called Triangular Trade, slave traders brought Africans to the West Indies and sold them into slavery. Then, with the money they made from selling Africans into slaves, the slave traders would buy large amount of sugars and other goods, such as rum which is made from sugars, to bring back to Europe. This trip usually took about one year.

Sugar plantations take a long time to grow. It is also very hard to handle. The Americans brought slaves from other countries and imported them into America. From the very beginning of sugar cultivation in the New World, there were not enough slaves to satisfy the labor requirements for profitable sugar plantaions. The major slavery spot is Brazil. Full-grown slaves were expected to harvest five acres. Children were expected to harvest at least 2 acres. This part in time was a devastating time for African Americans and it turned into American history.When slavery came to America, the African Americans never knew what they were getting into. A lot of them either died on their way to America or were tortured. This time of African Americans had very little rights and were treated very poorly. If they tried to escape, then they would be shot and beaten to run away with different routes and one of the routes was the Underground Railroad, which was lead by Harriet Tubman. A lot of slaves went free to the north, but many slaves were left there for the rest of their lives. They only had memories about working in the sugar plantations.