Barbados Sugar’s Unseen History\ Sugar Iron and Fire
Sweetness Forged in Fire In 18th-century Barbados, cane sugar production depended on cast-iron syrup kettles, a technique later on embraced in the American South. Sugarcane was squashed using wind and animal-powered mills. The extracted juice was heated, clarified, and evaporated in a series of pots of reducing size to make crystallized sugar. Barbados Sugar Economy: A Tragic Success. The introduction of the "plantation system" changed the island's economy. Big estates owned by rich planters dominated the landscape, with enslaved Africans offering the labour needed to sustain the demanding procedure of planting, harvesting, and processing sugarcane. This system created enormous wealth for the nest and strengthened its location as a key player in the Atlantic trade. But African slaves toiled in perilous conditions, and many died in the infamous Boiling room, as you will see next: The Hidden Dangers Behind Sugar In the glare of Barbados' sun-soaked...