Sugarcane Cultivation

Type Object Region South Asia Time c. 900–1000

By the 10th century CE, South and West Asia had developed highly commercialized sugarcane cultivation and sugar-making systems;…

Timeline

c. 900–930Bihar · BiharThe Ganges plain of northern India maintained large-scale sugarcane cultivation; local sugar workshops produced raw sugar and rock sugar by boiling and concentration, and cane sugar was shipped to Persia and Southeast Asia via overland and maritime trade routes.
c. 920–960Basra · MesopotamiaThe Abbasid dynasty promoted sugarcane cultivation in the Tigris and Euphrates valleys, introducing Indian sugar-making techniques and improving irrigation systems; sugar mills sprang up in Basra, Wasit, and elsewhere, and cane sugar became an important export commodity.
c. 970–1000Syria · SyriaSyria and Fatimid Egypt developed sugarcane cultivation, and sugar products were shipped by Mediterranean merchant vessels to Byzantine and European ports, making sugarcane cultivation an agricultural link connecting South Asia, West Asia, and the Mediterranean.

Sugar Cane: A Historical Geography from its Origins to 1900 — J. H. Galloway (2005)
The Cambridge World History of Food — Kenneth F. Kiple; Kriemhild Coneè Ornelas (2000)