The Bitter Legacy of Sweetness, Sugars’ Boiling Truth

The Bitter Side of Sweet



Barbados Sugar Wealth. Sugarcane growing started in Barbados in the early 1640s, when the Dutch came to help with sugar production. The island's soil and favourable climate made it an ideal location for harvesting sugar. By the mid-17th century, Barbados had become one of the wealthiest colonies in the British Empire, earning the nickname "Little England."By the mid-17th century, Barbados had actually become one of the wealthiest colonies in the British Empire, making the nickname "Little England." But all was not sweetness in the land of Sugar as we discover next:



Boiling Sugar: A Grueling Job

Sugar production in the 17th and 18th centuries was  a perilous process. After harvesting and crushing the sugarcane, its juice was boiled in enormous cast iron kettles up until it crystallized into sugar. These pots, often set up in a series called a"" train"" were heated by blazing fires that workers needed to stir continually. The heat was extreme, , and the work unrelenting. Enslaved employees sustained long hours, typically standing close to the inferno, running the risk of burns and fatigue. Splashes of the boiling liquid were not uncommon and could trigger extreme, even fatal, injuries.

A Life of Peril

The dangers were ever present for the enslaved employees entrusted with tending these kettles. They laboured in intense heat, breathing in smoke and fumes from the burning fuel. The work required intense effort and precision; a minute of inattention might result in accidents. Regardless of these challenges, enslaved Africans brought amazing ability and ingenuity to the process, guaranteeing the quality of the final product. This item fueled economies far beyond Barbados" coasts.





By acknowledging the unsafe labour of enslaved Africans, we honour their contributions and sacrifices. Barbados" sugar industry, built on their backs, shaped the island's history and economy. As we appreciate the antiques of this age, we must also keep in mind individuals whose work and durability made it possible. Their story is an important part of comprehending not just the history of Barbados but the wider history of the Caribbean and the global impact of the sugar trade.





HISTORICAL RECORDS!

Abolitionist Voices Concure on the Deadly Fate of Boiling Sugar

Accounts, such as James Ramsay's works, clarify the gruesome dangers shackled employees dealt with in Caribbean sugar plantations. The boiling places, with its open barrels of scalding sugar, was a website of unimaginable suffering -- one of many Hazards of plantation life.


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Boiling Sugar: The Bitter Side of Sweet |The Dark Side of Sugar: A History in Iron |Sweetness Forged in Fire |
Molten Memories: The Iron Pots of Sugar's Past |

The Iron Heart of Barbados' Sugar