Sugar Trade Dbq

Kit-kats, Hershey bars, Skittles, and Jolly Ranchers. The reason these sweets, and many other products, are so popular is because of their sugar content. It’s hard to imagine that something used in nearly every food today was practically nonexistent at one point. But this is true- sugar wasn’t introduced globally until the 1500’s. Following this introduction, the trade that sprung up would come to be one of the most successful and profitable in the world. The Sugar Trade’s success was driven by many factors. Out of those several factors, the ones that promised success were high consumer demand, willing investors with a lot of capital, and the usage of slave labor.

First, the high and ever-present demand for sugar in Europe allowed for the

trade to become successful. Sugar was, and still is, addicting. Benjamin Mosley said that, “Such is the influence of sugar, that once touching the nerves of taste no person was ever known to have the power of relinquishing the desire for it”(Document 3b). As soon as people tasted sugar, whether on its own or in another product, they couldn’t get enough of it. More importantly, this means that more people would be willing to spend money on sugar. As Europe’s population grew, the demand for sugar did too. Document 5 shows that in Britain from 1720-1740, the population actually decreased by 100,000 people. Even so, yearly sugar consumption increased from 7.6 pounds to 11.1 pounds per capita. That’s a roughly 50% increase in 20 years, despite a decreasing population. On its own, sugar is capable of drawing taste buds in, but products aren’t always used on their own. This is the case with sugar, which was used in other goods like tea, chocolate, and coffee(Document 4). Sugar became present in more and more products, only furthering the addiction it could bring. This would increase the demand, giving possible investors a reason to fund more sugar plantations in the Caribbean. The constant need for more sweet-tasting foods led more profit from plantation owners, thus drawing interest from others and creating more sugar farms. Expansion like this relies on demand, and the Sugar Trade would not have been possible without such a high amount of it.

Running sugar plantations and trading sugar itself was no doubt very costly.

The high cost, however, wasn’t a problem for wealthy plantation owners, who had money to spare. The existence of this surplus capital played a huge role in driving the sugar trade. For example, Document 6a states that for a single plantation, windmills, housing, distilling and boiling facilities, as well as several animals were needed. These things cost over £100,000 total, but the people investing in the sugar trade were already wealthy and thus could afford the initial expenses. Since the landowners were so rich, it was possible for them to appoint overseers and send them to the actual plantation, and stay home in Europe while still seeing profit. Also, since most of the farms were individually owned (Document 7a), whatever money was made from the plantation would go to the person himself, without having to give much to other investors. It’s also worth mentioning that while the other goods might have been costly, the land was quite cheap (Document 6a). Most plantations were located in the Caribbean, where the climate was ideal for sugar production (Document 2). Surplus capital helped to drive the sugar trade because it allowed for wealthy landowners to set up large farms in a perfect environment quite easily, without many risks or adjustments. Since all they needed to do was use some of their money to start a plantation, and gradually expand it as they gained profit, excess capital was a root for

creating sugar farms and deriving profit from trading the subsequent product.

While capital was needed to create the farm itself, sugar plantations were essentially defunct without workers to harvest and prepare the sugar for shipping.

Slave labor is the final factor that drove the sugar trade and made it so successful. Slaves were the manual laborers on the plantations, doing the actual harvesting and boiling because the owner wasn’t there to do so (Document 8). Without the slaves working the farm, everything was pretty much useless. There is also a direct correlation between the number of slaves and the tons of sugar produced. This is shown in Document 9, where the island of Jamaica starts out with 45,000 slaves, and produces 4,782 tons of sugar. When the number of slaves increases by less than half to 74,500, the amount of sugar produced is more than tripled at 15, 972 tons. This clearly exhibits how slaves were essential to sugar

production.

In conclusion, the Sugar Trade was a hugely successful trade system that made its mark on the entire world. A high and constant demand, surplus capital from wealthy investors, and slave labor all contributed to creating the prosperous trade. Without any one of these factors, the Sugar Trade would have undoubtedly collapsed. Sugar might have remained nonexistent if not for this combination of elements. Sugar has impacted the world in a huge way. Come back to Kit-Kats, Hershey bars, Skittles, and Jolly Ranchers. Perhaps if the Sugar Trade wasn’t successful, these would be nonexistent, along with many of the other products we enjoy today.