Caribbean sugar plantation system

Timeline

1. c. 1510–1525Santo Domingo hinterland · Dominican RepublicSpanish settlers transferred sugar cane from the Canary Islands and established early mills, combining encomienda labor with growing importation of African captives for field and factory work.
2. 1530–1540Caribbean sugar districts · HispaniolaIn the 1530s larger estates standardized cane planting cycles, animal- and water-driven mills, and export logistics, making sugar a principal colonial commodity and intensifying reliance on enslaved workers.
3. c. 1540–1650Greater Antilles and early Lesser Antilles · AntillesThe Hispaniola template diffused to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and later English and French islands, linking plantation agriculture to Atlantic shipping, credit markets, and transatlantic slave supply chains.