Digital Delights

The Dark Side of Sugar In 18th-century Barbados, sugar was made in cast-iron syrup kettles, a technique later embraced in the American South. Sugarcane was crushed using wind and animal-powered mills. The extracted juice was warmed, clarified, and evaporated in a series of cast-iron pots of reducing size to make crystallized sugar. Barbados Sugar Economy: A Bitter Success. The beginning of the "plantation system" changed the island's economy. Large estates owned by wealthy planters controlled the landscape, with enslaved Africans providing the labour required to sustain the requiring process of planting, harvesting, and processing sugarcane. This system produced tremendous wealth for the colony and solidified its location as a key player in the Atlantic trade. But African slaves toiled in perilous conditions, and many died in the infamous Boiling room, as you will see next: The Hidden Dangers Of Sugar In the glare of Barbados' sun-soaked coast...