Forged for Sugar
The Bitter Side of Sweet In 18th-century Barbados, cane sugar was made in cast-iron syrup kettles, a technique later embraced in the American South. Sugarcane was squashed using wind and animal-powered mills. The drawn out juice was heated, clarified, and vaporized in a series of cast-iron kettles of decreasing size to create crystallized sugar. Barbados Sugar Economy: A Tragic Success. The beginning of the "plantation system" changed the island's economy. Large estates owned by wealthy planters dominated the landscape, with enslaved Africans offering the labour required to sustain the demanding process of planting, harvesting, and processing sugarcane. This system produced immense wealth for the nest and solidified its place 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: Boiling Sugar: A Grueling Job Sugar production in the 17th and 18th c...