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From what I understand, in the days of colonization of the West Indies after Columbus, the sugar trade began to develop as an industry. No doubt, the warm climate in the Carribean led to an expanding sugar cane trade with Europe and furthered the desire to explore and colonize other parts of the Americas. I believe that this sugar trade became an industry of power, much like oil is today. In other words, the demand was so great and the need so “crucial” (at least in some sense) that political alliances or agreements may have centered around this. On a side note, having watched a show on the history of sugar, it wasn't until sugar extraction from beets was developed in Germany that the sugar cane crop dropped out of some importance.So anyway, has anyone else heard of this sugar-oil parallel? Do you think that the parallel is merited or do you think that the differences are great enough to destroy any thesis that a parallel exists?
The sugar industry was the culprit that led to the vast slave trade of Colonial South Carolina. The Planters from Barbados moved their operations to Charlestown in the late 1660's after Captain William Hilton explored the coasts of “Carolina” (1663) during the reign of Charles II. Chattel slavery was the economic engine that facilitated the rise in the sugar, rice, hemp, tar, and indigo industries until cotton became a major cash crop a generation later. Colonial South Carolinians were the richest colonists per capita in the British Atlantic colonies.
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