Caribbean free essay sample

The value of the Caribbean colonies to Europe came to be in their sugar production. After the European explorers realized that the Caribbean was not naturally rich in gold and other precious metals; they were desperate to find other ways in which they could use these islands to benefit themselves. After several failed attempts to grow crops such as tobacco and cotton (on a large scale), the Europeans realized that sugar had a greater potential to be sold in Europe than any other crop, and in itself was a Goldmine waiting to be uncovered.The Portuguese had already successfully grown and produced sugar on limitations in SAA Tom and Madeira, but on a relatively small scale in comparison to how great it would eventually become. They took these techniques with them when they began to colonies the north east (Performance) of Brazil. Although sugar production increased, it still remained a very expensive product because the Journey from Brazil to Europe was very long and Brazilian sugar wa s taxed in a way that West Indian sugar never was. Therefore the demand still remained low because only the rich could afford to buy sugar.On these plantations In So Tom and Brazil, a slave workforce was employed. In So Tom, the workforce was initially made up of poor Europeans sent there to work. Unfortunately, they died out because they had no resistance to tropical diseases such as malaria. Captured Africans were then readily used because of their built up immunity to these diseases. When production first began in Brazil, the native Indian population was used as their work force. However, due to a combination Of disease, malnutrition and inability to do such hard labor, the native population began to die out and new labor was required. African slaves were once again imported from the West coast to Brazil. They proved to be resilient workers and coped better with the hard labor. The British soon realized that the Caribbean had a similar climate to that of Brazil and sugar cane was well-suited to growth in those regions. It was easy for them to acquire lands in the larger islands because the Spanish had lost interest in them and not realized their potential; therefore little effort was spent defending them. To be a profitable commodity, sugar had to be produced on a large scale and this meant that production had to be a 24 hour procedure.Time was an important factor in reduction. The cane had to be harvested at certain times and then processed immediately otherwise the quality of the juice extracted would decrease and the sugar yield would be less. This 24 hour process meant that the sugar mills required constant attendance. Poor white laborers were first employed because they could easily be lured there with the promise of land, after they had fulfilled their work contracts. Unfortunately, this proved to be a problem because most Of the land was already taken up as part of the sugar plantation and there was very little left to reward the white indentures with.At this time, British North America was beginning to develop as a result of tobacco being grown there on a large scale and of a better quality. The white indentured work force began to migrate there instead of the Caribbean because the promise of land was more a reality. North America Sis large continent and there was more land available to give to them. The climate there also suited them more because it was similar to that of Europe. Most importantly, the mortality rate was significantly lower.The Dutch noted this need for a new Orca, and as African slaves were already being used in Brazil, they began to sell them to the British and later the French. African slaves were the perfect work force. They were strong, resistant to the tropical diseases and most of all, they were cheap. Sometimes they cost nothing at all because the Europeans themselves began to raid African villages and didnt need to trade with the North African Muslims to acquire them. In 1 655, the British took over Jamaica from the Spanish and started to develop it as a sugar-plantation colony.It soon overtook Brazil in sugar production. This large scale production meant that sugar was more widely available and thus became cheaper. An entirely new taste for sweetness manifested itself as soon as the means to satisfy it became available, and sugar contributed in the seventeenth century to the widespread consumption of new commodities]2 For quite some time, the British dominated the trade in sugar production. Genoa, Venice and Antwerp were the key points of trade and distribution. A lot of money/capital was being generated through the colonization of new lands and trade between the nations.Therefore businessmen ere looking for ways to invest their money to make profits. They had seen h owe successful the British were with sugar production and were very willing to invest in that same market. They funded French and Dutch colonizers who also wanted reap the benefits of sugar production. The French colonized larger islands such as SST. Dominion (modern day Haiti), Martinique and Guadalupe. As more sugar plantations were being introduced to more islands, the competition between European nations Was becoming fiercer. It was now a race to see who could produce more sugar, in a shorter period of time, for the best price.As sugar production steadily increased, this in turn steadily increased the need for African slave labor to cope with the demands of the market. This C]love affair with sugar meant that Europeans were intensely dependent on African slave labor to supply their needs. Sugar cultivation and production became a year-round process in the Caribbean for two reasons. First, it allowed the intense work of harvest-time to be spread out over a number of months; thus increasing the yield. Second, it kept the slaves constantly occupied with mindless, hard labor which left them with little time or energy billion.Rebellion was never far from the minds of the Europeans because at the height of sugar production, African slaves far outnumbered the white planters. They knew that should the slaves band together, they could quite easily overthrow and an exorbitant amount of money would be lost. This was particularly a problem for the British settlers. Between 1 640 and 1713, there were seven slave revolts in the English sugar plantation islands, in which many Europeans and Africans Were killed. Jamaica then became the breeding ground of revolt. Slaves escaped to the mountains and proved virtually impossible to recapture because of their location.There were fewer problems with slave revolts in islands like Barbados, Antigen and SST. Skits/Nevis because there were fewer places to run to. However, this was unimportant because Jamaica was their biggest supplier of sugar and slave revolts decreased sugar production. The French soon bypassed the English to become the largest producers of sugar in the world in the mid seventeenth century. In Haiti alone, they had over 450000 slaves working on approximately 250 plantations and hey produced hundreds of thousands oftener of sugar each year.However 1791, the French were to fall to an even worse demise than the English in Jamaica. Following a slave revolution, the French were completely driven out of Haiti. This left a large hole in the world supply of sugar and it sparked sugar production in Cuba by the Spanish, who had recognized this opportunity to capitalist. Sugar production there eventually rivaled that of Haiti in its heyday. In conclusion it can be said that the world demand for sugar fuelled the need for slaves in the Caribbean.However, this demand proved to be the demise of reduction, for eventually the huge numbers of slaves revolted and this decreased sugar production. The success of sugar production was solely dependent on resilience Of African slaves. This irrevocably linked them so that wherever slaves were present, so too were sugar plantations.