The Iron Kettles of Sugar
The Bitter Side of Sweet The Sweet Harvest: Barbados Sugar Production. Barbados, typically called the "Gem of the Caribbean," owes much of its historic prominence to one commodity: sugar. This golden crop transformed the island from a small colonial outpost into a powerhouse of the global economy throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Yet, the sweet success of sugar was built on a structure of oppressed labour, a truth that casts a shadow over its legacy. The Boiling Process: A Lealthal Job Making sugar in the days of colonial slavery was an unforgiving procedure. After harvesting and squashing the sugarcane, its juice was boiled in huge cast iron kettles till it crystallized into sugar. These pots, typically arranged in a series called a"" train"" were heated up by blazing fires that enslaved Africans needed to stoke continually. The heat was suffocating, and the work unrelenting. Enslaved workers sustained long hours, typically standing near to the i...