Mark Brown

The Bitter Side of Sweet In 18th-century Barbados, sugar production counted on cast-iron syrup kettles, a method later embraced in the American South. Sugarcane was crushed utilizing wind and animal-powered mills. The drawn out juice was heated, clarified, and vaporized in a series of iron pots of reducing size to create crystallized sugar. Barbados Sugar Economy: A Tragic Exploitation. The start of the "plantation system" transformed the island's economy. Big estates owned by rich planters dominated the landscape, with shackled Africans supplying the labour needed to sustain the demanding procedure of planting, harvesting, and processing sugarcane. This system generated immense wealth for the colony and strengthened 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: The Boiling Process: A Grueling Task Sugar production in the 17th and 18th centuries was  a h...