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Sugar Plantation Crop System

Type Object Region Atlantic Time c. 1530

The Atlantic sugar plantation system, centered on sugarcane with forced labor and estate production, expanded rapidly in 16th-century Brazil and the …

Timeline

  1. c. 1530–1570Pernambuco, Brazil · PernambucoPortuguese colonists transplanted sugarcane from Madeira and elsewhere to Brazil, establishing the first sugar mills (engenhos) and a forced-labor production model.
  2. 1571–1580Atlantic sugar-producing regions · BrazilBetween 1571 and 1580, sugarcane plantations and African slave imports formed a stable pairing, making sugar one of the core commodities of Atlantic trade.
  3. c. 1580–1700Caribbean islands · CaribbeanAfter 1580 the plantation model was replicated in the Caribbean, further globalizing the sugarcane-slave-sugar trade triangle.
  4. c. 1700Global tropical production regions · TropicsThe plantation sugarcane system expanded to tropical regions worldwide in the 18th and 19th centuries, profoundly shaping the modern world economy and labor systems.

Sources