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Sugarcane

Type Object Region Atlantic Time c. -8000

Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum), native to South Asia and New Guinea, spread via the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean to Atlantic islands;…

Timeline

  1. c. -500–1450Ganges Delta, India · IndiaSugarcane spread northward from New Guinea to India, Persia, and the Mediterranean; Arab and Venetian merchants brought the sugar trade into Europe. Before the 15th century, sugarcane cultivation was concentrated on the warm coasts of the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean.
  2. 1452–1580Madeira Islands · Madeira IslandsPortugal developed sugarcane cultivation and sugar mills on islands such as Madeira and São Tomé using African slave labor, forming transplantable Atlantic sugarcane cultivation techniques, varietal selection, and sugar export models.
  3. 1580–1590Bahia and Pernambuco · BrazilIn the 1580s, sugarcane plantations along the Brazilian coast expanded rapidly along the engenho model, with cuttings introduced from Atlantic islands; after the 1580 union of Spain and Portugal, sugar exports flowed via Lisbon to Antwerp, and sugarcane output and slave imports rose in tandem.

Sources