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Atlantic Sugarcane Plantation System
After sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) was introduced from Atlantic islands to the Americas in the 15th century, it became bound to forced labor, ca…
Timeline
- c. 1420–1550Madeira and São Tomé · São ToméPortugal established sugarcane cultivation and sugar mills on islands such as Madeira and São Tomé, experimenting with forced-labor models and transoceanic supply chains, providing technical and organizational templates for transplant to Brazil and the Caribbean.
- c. 1550–1630Pernambuco, Brazil · PernambucoFrom the 16th century sugarcane was planted on a large scale along the Brazilian coast; engenho mills integrated cultivation, crushing, refining, and export, with trafficked African labor at the core of production, and Brazil long dominated the Atlantic raw sugar supply.
- 1631Barbados and the Caribbean islands · Lesser AntillesIn the 1630s, Barbados and other islands completed the shift from tobacco and cotton to sugarcane, forming a system in which dense plantations, refined sugar exports, and slave imports reinforced one another; Caribbean sugar challenged Brazil's monopoly, and the Atlantic sugarcane plantation became a typical vehicle of early capitalism and interracial oppression.
Sources
- Mintz, Sidney W. Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History — Sidney W. Mintz (1985)
- Blackburn, Robin. The Making of New World Slavery: From the Baroque to the Modern, 1492-1800 — Robin Blackburn (1997)