Slave Trade: The Sugar Trade

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“I went to the bank and asked to borrow a cup of money. They said, ‘what for?’ I said, ‘I’m going to buy some sugar.’ - Steven Wright
While the Sugar Trade did introduce sugar to the world, not everyone got to enjoy the treat. The Europeans had no care for their intense farming, impacting the environment and the slaves doing all the hard work. They just sat and got fat, not caring what the price was as long as they had their precious sugar. The Sugar Trade was carried by the abused environment, hundreds of thousands of slaves doing the hard labor, and the millions in consumers money put forth to purchase the addictive sweet.
Slaves were used to manufacture the Sugar Trade, and in mass quantities. An adult male slave cost about £25, and around …show more content…
According to Benjamin Mosley, ‘...that once touching the nerves of taste no person was ever known to have the power of relinquishing the desire for it.’ Sugar was used as a sweetener is chocolate, coffee, and tea, all three of which are considered addictive substances. Trying to keep getting their sweets, sugar was in higher demand, and consumption rates spiked through the roof. In the 1710’s, an average person consumed 4.7 pounds of sugar every year. By the 1770’s, people were eating up to 16.2 pounds in a year. The European people were addicted to substances containing sugar, and because of this sugar intake increased dramatically and became in great demand. The European helped provide the Sugar Trade with a steady profit, even if it meant going broke. The Europeans who purchased sugar had no idea what they were getting themselves into. They eventually went broke trying to keep up with their expensive addictions.
The millions of people that were torn from their home and thousands of acres of ravaged land would argue with you that the sugar trade was no good thing. The Sugar Trade did introduce sugar to our taste palettes, but also ruined land and families, and killed thousands in the process. The Sugar Trade was carried by the millions of enslaved people forced from their land, the Caribbean islands who were destroyed in the process of making the most of the land, and the European consumers who went broke trying to keep eating their precious
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