The Sugar Revolution

Question 1

What is a revolution?

Answer 1

A drastic change affecting the way people live.

Question 2

What was the sugar revolution?

Answer 2

A drastic change from the cultivation of tobacco to sugar and the consequences of its introduction on a large scale in the Caribbean in the 17th century.

Question 3

When and where did the sugar revolution begin and end?

Answer 3

It began in Barbados in 1640 and was completed by 1650

Question 4

Differences between Tobacco and Sugar cultivation

Answer 4

• Tobacco could be grown successfully by small farmers and small land holdings
• One man and his family could manage all the processes of the manufacturing of tobacco
• Sugar cultivation had to be done on a large scale and could not be operated by one man and his family, like in the case of tobacco-hence Africans had to be brought in large numbers to work on plantations.

Question 5

Labor intensive
Profitable on a small scale
Required less land (average 30 acres)

Answer 5

Tobacco

Question 6

Labor extensive
Profitable only on a large scale
Required larger amounts of land (average 500 acres)

Answer 6

Sugar

Question 7

Average land required for sugar to grow was how many acres?

Answer 7

500 acres

Question 8

Pastureland was how many acres?

Answer 8

80 acres

Question 9

Woodland was how many acres?

Answer 9

100 acres

Question 10

Sugar land was how many acres?

Answer 10

200 acres

Question 11

Provision grounds and subsidiary crops was how many acres?

Answer 11

120 acres

Question 12

Causes of the Sugar Revolution

Answer 12

• Decline in profitability of tobacco due to competition from Virginia which was of superior quality.
• There was a glut of tobacco on the European market due to increase production from Virginia (decrease in the price of tobacco)
• The journey to Virginia was shorter and easier for European merchants.
• Failure of other crops in terms of profitability, for eg ginger did not have a large enough market/while cotton took up too much land space.
• Rise in the demand for sugar as a sweetener in Europe due to a. Introduction of tea from the east b. Use of sugar in the manufacturing of sweets
• Sugar production became quite profitable, and planters began turning their attention to growing sugar instead of tobacco.

Question 13

Reasons for the success of sugar

Answer 13

• Cheap alternative to honey
• Social habits were changing in Europe -tea and coffee had become a fashionable past time
• Many tea shops sprung up all over Europe
• Sugar was not too bulky to be transported and could be carried in small ships
• Sugar was not a perishable product
  N.B. With the introduction of sugar cultivation into Barbados, Jamaica and the Eastern Caribbean several important changes took place which were revolutionary and far reaching, hence the Sugar Revolution.

Question 14

Democratic change/effect of the sugar revolution

Answer 14

While the enslaved population of the Caribbean increased the white population decreased. For example, in 1645 Barbados had 40.000 whites but in 1685 it decreased to 20,000; in 1645 it had 6000 enslaved Africans however this increased to over 46,000 in

Question 15

Social changes/effects of the sugar revolution

Answer 15

The ethnic composition of the Caribbean led to a change in the social system:
- From an almost total white population to one of black- 90% free before sugar to 90% slaves after the sugar revolution
- Ratio of 10:1 white in Barbados which led to the deficiency law. This law was to limit the number of slaves to white or to have a balanced proportion. However, planters simply ignored the law and paid the fine.
- Social status was now determined by colour-new social groupings were introduced due to the sexual mating of owners and slaves. These sexual relations affected the demography of most societies. Hence, the freed men population was heavily coloured. Gradation of colours was often varied and of considerable importance.
West Indian society became a society of colour and there were different shades and grades of colour.
- Attempts were made to regulate and define relationships between master and slaves, that is, to control them. Slave laws were developed to achieve these goals for example Las Siete Partidas (Spanish); Code Noir (French). English colonies were allowed to make their own laws.
- Dispossession of small proprietors led to an urban drift among poor whites. Some became innkeepers, clerks, emigrated to other countries, became buccaneers, while others became unemployed, malnourished, and died from tropical diseases.

Question 16

White and Black
Black and Mulatto
Mulatto and White
Quadroon and White
Mustee and White
Musteefino and White

Answer 16

Union Demarcation

Question 17

Mulatto
Quadroon
Sambo
Mustee
Musteefino
Quintoroon

Answer 17

Colour Demarcation

Question 18

Economic changes/effects of the sugar revolution

Answer 18

• There was a radical change in the pattern of land ownership, that is, small tobacco farmers sold their lands to those wishing to establish sugar plantation. For example, by 1667 Barbados’ 11,000 small landowners had been replaced by 745 large plantation owners.
• Land price rose dramatically. For example, £6 per acre to £80 per acre in Barbados.
• In order to make a large profit sugar had to be produced on a large scale. Hence, the large-scale use of slave labor to work in the great houses, the mills, the factories and in particular the cane fields.
• Literally thousands of slaves were forcibly exported to the new world, including the Caribbean, each year and could be obtained very cheaply.
• Sugar required adequate capital to purchase equipment and supplies, such as, horses, mills, boilers, hoes, carts etc. Hence, planters borrowed heavily from merchants and investors in England.
• Overtime many planters became heavily and perpetually indebted to these creditors (merchants and investors)
• England gained much revenue from sugar production and The Atlantic/ Triangular Slave Trade. Thus, the West Indian colonies became ‘jewels in the British Crown’
• The colonies became monocrop economies, that is, they produced ONE crop for export which was sugar.

Question 19

Political changes/effects of the sugar revolution

Answer 19

• Large landowners became eligible to sit as members of the Lower House of assembly. Barbados was the first English colony to have a local assembly in 1639.
• England allow the colonial government a lot of power, because of the huge revenues they sent to her annually. England later regretted this move when she decided to abolish slavery.
• The wealth and financial gains to be made from sugar convinced the ‘crown’ (English Govt.) to bring the islands under more direct control. Hence, the ‘proprietary system’ of government gave way to ‘representative system’ that is, the colonial governors now represented the ‘crown’ instead of the ‘lord proprietor’

Question 20

Combined economic and political changes/effects of the sugar revolution

Answer 20

• The Navigation Acts of the 1650s were implemented to end the trade supremacy in the Caribbean and ensure British trade monopoly.
• The Navigation Acts reinforced England’s mercantilist policy, that is, colonies existed only for the benefit of the mother country.
• Profit from sugar aroused the greed of European nations who began rivalry for control of these islands. Therefore, a war in Europe was accompanied by a war in the Caribbean in the late 17th and 18th centuries. The islands changed hands several times based on fortunes of war.
• Caribbean islands became pawns in the game of international politics
• Enthronement of sugar as ‘king’- sugar became the ‘pearl’ in the crown

Question 21

Other changes/effects of the sugar revolution

Answer 21

• High absenteeism of landowners, that is owning land in one country and living in another. Attorneys managed estates for absentee owners.
• Society became enslaved and restricted because of fear of revolts. Oppressive laws were enacted as a result.

Question 22

The development of African slavery

Answer 22

• Necessary to solve labor problem
• The existing population could not meet the demands for manual labor
• Amerindians could not provide adequate labor as the Tainos had almost become extinct and the Kalinagos were difficult to enslaved
• Indentured servants were too small in number and were contracted for a limited number of years. Europeans were also hearing stories about hardship and ill treatment of working on plantations. This led to a steady decline in the number of indentured servants.
• Africans were easily obtained and enslaved in large quantities
• The Dutch were the initial slave traders who transported Africans to the Caribbean.
• African chiefs collaborated in the slave trade
• There was great wealth to be made from sugar cultivation using slave labor
• The belief that nothing could happen to an African but old age
• Sugar replaced tobacco as the chief export crop and was labor extensive

Question 23

Effects of African slavery on the Caribbean

Answer 23

• A large section of the Caribbean population was subjected to sub-human treatment
• The West Indies became highly populated, profitable and led to changes in the lifestyle of the people
• Racism and the exploitation of one race over the other became the norm.
• Slavery became the base of the society and race and color were linked to power and status
• Sugar became one of the most profitable crops in the world and was enthroned ‘KING’