The Impact of the Sugar Revolution

THE SUGAR REVOLUTION C:\Users\Patronella\Pictures\SUAGARCANECUTTER1830.jpg Videos to watch (773) Modern Slavery: The Most-Afflicted Countries - YouTube (773) How Slavery Started and Slavery Today | History of Slavery | American Civil War - YouTube (773) Slavery in the Ancient World: Rome, China, and Africa - YouTube (773) The White Slaves of Barbary North Africa and the Ottoman Empire - YouTube (790) Why History Matters | Patrick Allitt | TEDxEmory - YouTube What was the sugar revolution? by Kiymeiah Millington (prezi.com) A Brief History of Sugar From Slavery to Sweetener - YouTube Background: Tobacco The European colonists faced challenges trying to find a crop to cultivate for profit. As a result, they cultivated cotton, cocoa, coffee and indigo which were ‘the most profitable for the colonists to sell to Europe.’ Perishable goods like fruit and unsalted meats or those which were bulky, like timber and cattle, were not suitable for trade because the ships ‘even up to the 17th century were quite small, took months to travel between Europe and the Caribbean and had no refrigeration.’ The goods produced in the Caribbean had to be ‘small and aimed at a luxury market’ this means they had to be produced for wealthy people who saw no problem paying high prices for them. Cocoa and coffee were in great demand among the wealthy, but they faced competition from tea which came from the East Indies. It then became less profitable for them to cultivate these crops. Cotton and dyes (from indigo and logwood) made a small profit with the cloth producers but with the coming of the Industrial Revolution weaving became cheaper and there was no longer a high demand for these products. Tobacco did not face any of these problems, in fact there were many advantages to tobacco cultivation. They included: * Once its leaves were cured it was not perishable. * Large amounts could be stored in small packages for transport. * It was easy to cultivate as the landowner, his family and in a few cases a few labourers worked the land. * It did not need a lot of capital to purchase machinery, buildings, or livestock. * There was a great demand for it in Europe among the nobility who adopted it as the latest fashion. In the 17th century (around 1640) there was a decline in the cultivation of tobacco for the following reasons: * Competition from the British North American colony of Virginia which produced a cheaper and better-quality tobacco than the Caribbean tobacco. * Sugar had the same advantages as tobacco, but it required ‘more labour and …. investment’. * Honey, which was used as a sweetener for tea and coffee, which was becoming popular was also becoming very expensive. * Competition from the Dutch trading tobacco at Araya in Venezuela and later Curaçao. * The Caribbean provided the right climate for the cultivation of sugar. Videos to watch (769) The Surprising History of Tobacco - YouTube (769) The Sugar Plantations of British Barbados - YouTube Definition of the Sugar Revolution The Sugar Revolution was a sudden, drastic change from the cultivation of the cash crop tobacco to sugar cane cultivation and sugar production. An example of this can be seen in the colony of Barbados where the change took place in a mere ten years (1640 to 1650). Video to watch (769) A Brief History of Sugar from Slavery to Sweetener - YouTube (799) History of Sugar Trade - YouTube (799) The History of Sugar- A Tale neither short nor sweet - YouTube The introduction of sugar cane cultivation and sugar production Sugar cane cultivation and sugar production would prove to be an ideal replacement for tobacco production. Since sugar cane had to be grown in a tropical or subtropical climate, the West Indies were an ideal place to grow it. In addition, there was a great demand for it in Europe, especially in the towns or urban areas. It was used in the following ways: * To preserve those fruits which were not made into jam. * To aid in the brewing of beer and ale that was consumed everywhere. * To make cake and biscuits. * As a sweetener for coffee, tea and cocoa. The sources of sugar were very limited in Europe they were from: * Bees which could be found in the hives in every village or on every rich man’s estate. * A small amount of cane sugar was grown in the Mediterranean islands and southern Spain like Sicily and Cyprus. The role of the Dutch The Dutch and the Portuguese were fighting for possession of Brazil for a long time and the Dutch were finally expelled from Pernambuco in Brazil around 1640 by the Portuguese. Many fled to the eastern Caribbean, including Barbados as refugees bringing with them their knowledge and expertise of sugar production. The Dutch were also the greatest traders in the Caribbean region having almost complete control of it. They wanted to increase their trade, and they realized that encouraging the planting of sugar cane was a great opportunity. The Dutch provided everything the planter needed like capital to invest in the crop, labour (the enslaved from West Africa) and knowledge and expertise of how to grow and produce the crop. Sugar cane production became very profitable, and many colonies took it as their main crop. The consequences of (or the effects of) the introduction of sugar to the economy The period between 1643 and 1660 saw the island (Barbados) being transformed from tobacco cultivation into a total sugar plantation economy. At least 80% of the island’s 100,000 acres were used in sugar production. Only a few continued with the first crops tobacco, cotton or indigo. The consequences (or effects) of the change from tobacco cultivation to sugar cane cultivation were: * Economic - Changes in the size of the land being cultivated, the value of the land and a monoculture economy. * Social - Change from European labour to African enslaved labour, changes in the social composition, a stratified society and absenteeism. * Political changes – changes from Proprietorship to Representative system of government. Economic changes The cultivation of sugar cane resulted in major changes to the land like: * Changes in the size of the land being cultivated- planters bought small plots of tobacco land which were owned by their neighbours and made them into large sugar estates. As a result, the number of landowners decreased as seen in Barbados where the number of landowners had fallen from 11 200 in 1645 to 745 by 1667. * Changes in the value of the land – the Sugar Revolution led to a great increase in the value of land in the 1640s it multiplied by more than fifteen in Barbados and in Nevis by more than ten. * A monoculture economy developed because of the sugar revolution; this is the concentration on the cultivation of one crop. This was mainly done in the English colonies where sugar made such great profits that the planters neglected other crops. By 1660 Barbados was virtually a sugar island. The demand for tobacco had declined so much that it was no longer possible to make a living from growing it. This heavy focus on sugar soon resulted in the island being unable to grow enough food to feed its rising population. This in turn caused Barbados to begin relying on imported foodstuffs such as dried fish, wheat and meat from the North American colonies. Social changes * The change from European labour to African labour- European labour was not suitable for sugar cane production which needed a huge set of workers unlike tobacco production. Sugar cane cultivation required labour for the yearly cycle of planting, cutting, hauling, crushing, boiling and packing. The European workers could not or did not want to handle this type of work. The solution came with the African enslaved labourer. * A change in the social composition – the sugar revolution brought about changes in the size and composition of the population of the islands. In most cases the white population was decreasing and was replaced by a relatively small number of wealthy landowners employing white employees at the supervisory level on the large plantations. The black population increased and dominated the social composition of the islands. The sugar society which replaced tobacco then became a small white elite and mass of black enslaved persons. * A stratified society – society changed from being over 90% free before the Sugar Revolution to being over 90% enslaved after it. ‘Free’ meant ‘white’ and ‘enslaved’ meant ‘black’. There were divisions within the two groups, amongst the enslaved it was based on occupations like domestic, artisan, factory and field. Social divisions among the whites were made based on wealth, education, or family background. * Absenteeism – the Sugar Revolution was also responsible for the introduction of the practice of absenteeism into the West Indian life. The profits of the sugar industry in the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century were so great that many of the richer planters were able to return to England, set up residence there and live off the proceeds of their West Indian estates. This was unique to the English islands. There were several push and pull factors which made this decision easier for them. Political changes * The change in the political structure from Lords-Proprietors or the Proprietary System to the Representative System – the British colonies before the Sugar Revolution were controlled by Lords-Proprietors. After the Sugar Revolution the colonies became so valuable that by 1660 a new system was put in place the Representative System. The region became very attractive because of its wealth and the West Indies thus became pawns in the game of international politics and the region became a theatre of maritime warfare. AFRICANS: THE IDEAL LABOUR FORCE FOR THE SUGAR INDUSTRY REASONS SPANIARDS WERE THE FIRST EUROPEANS TO IMPORT AFRICANS AS ENSLAVED PERSONS The Spaniards had to look for a new labour force in the 16th century (1500s) for the following reasons: * The Amerindian population had decreased significantly so a new source of labour was needed urgently. * The Spaniards did not want to work in the fields or the mines, the Spanish government initially used white labour. They sent their own people to the New World under similar conditions to slavery, but they were never enough workers. * The small numbers that came did not solve the labour problem as they were mainly barbers, tailors and others who did not have the skills needed for cultivation or they did not want to work. * Las Casas was said to have suggested to the king that one Negro’s labour was more valuable than that of four Indians so they should try to import African enslaved persons. * There was this belief that Africans were better suited for hard labour. * The Spaniards saw the African as an inferior race whose sole purpose was to serve and they believed that as non-Christians, Africans deserved enslavement. This reason ‘provided the rationalization for African slavery and the African Slave Trade’. * The Spaniards had always brought African enslaved persons from the Portuguese as they were the ones who ‘developed a tradition of using Africans as enslaved persons.’ * They needed workers urgently for their now developing sugar industry in the New World. * They had the money to buy the enslaved persons and so by the beginning of the 16th century African enslaved persons began arriving in islands like Hispaniola to work on Spanish farms. At the beginning of the trade enslaved persons were taken from Spain or Portugal and then sent to the New World. The year 1518 was the year the Portuguese carried their ‘first cargo of captives directly from West Africa to the West Indies. After the Slave Trade grew by leaps and bounds. REASONS AFRICANS WERE CHOSEN AS LABOURERS ON THE SUGAR PLANTATIONS The 1600s or 17th century After many failed attempts, like the Amerindians and the white indentured labourers, of finding a cheap, reliable labour force the English and French settlers decided on African enslaved labour. They preferred the African enslaved persons for the following reasons: * For sugar cane to be profitable, it had to be done on a large scale. It needed large areas of land and a large labour force. * There was no large indigenous population (the Amerindians) in the territories like Jamaica, Barbados, and Belize to provide a reliable labour. * The Caribs (Kalinagos) who lived in the French territories of the eastern Caribbean and the Windward Islands fought against being enslaved. * The planters believed it was easier to enslave and control enslave labour than the white indentured servants. * It was very hard to get indentured servants, and they were expensive. * The planters did not have to give land to the enslaved people like they did with the indentured servants to get them to work. * Indentured servants did not want to work beside enslaved persons. * To keep the support of the whites the planters had to stop using indentured labour. * Although enslaved persons were expensive in the long term the planters would be able to make a profit from them in terms of the goods produced and the children of enslaved persons became the property of their masters. * The planters/Europeans saw Africans as an inferior race, “hewers of wood and drawers of water”. * There was a constant supply of African enslaved persons as the number of traders increased. * There was money available to buy the enslaved persons. After the 1700s the demand for enslaved persons increased greatly because: * As the demand for sugar increased so did the demand for African labour. * New colonies began to cultivate sugar, so more land was used and the demand for African labour to work the plantation also increased. * More and more people became involved in the slave trade. * The harsh treatment of the enslaved persons resulted in many of them dying so they had to be replaced on a regular basis to take the place of those who had died and add to the numbers needed for the expanding sugar industry. THE REASONS FOR THE CHANGE FROM LOGWOOD TO MAHOGANY Logwood British Honduras (Belize) was unlike most of the British Caribbean, it had a population of 3,000 enslaved persons and was mainly focused on logging. It had large resources of logwood and mahogany. During the 17th century and 18th centuries logwood was in high demand in Europe and as a result, Europeans paid a high price for it. In Europe it was used to make dyes to add colour to woolen cloth. In the beginning it was the Spanish who dominated the logwood trade. However, after the Seven Years War (1756 – 1763) Spain ‘agreed to the right of Englishmen to cut logwood in Honduras but Spain still regarded the territory as hers’. Eventually Europeans discovered new ways of making dyes so the demand for logwood decreased significantly. This led to the British settlers looking for another timber to trade. Their answer came with mahogany which was a hardwood used in the manufacturing of furniture. Mahogany The enslaved population in British Honduras was mainly involved in the felling of mahogany trees, then ‘cutting and hauling the logs and floating them downstream’. Some of the enslaved were skilled like the huntsman and axe man. The first step of the operation involved the huntsman looking for the trees that were ‘ready for cutting’. He would do this early in the year since this was the time they could be identified by their ‘new red-brown leaves (which) could be easily seen’. His goal was to find a ‘large number of trees and to be able to lead other workers to where they were in the forest.’ The trees to be felled were between the ages of 60 and 80 years old and could grow to over 100 feet tall and ‘anywhere from three to twelve feet in diameter’. When the trees were located, they became the ‘responsibility of the axe men and then the other enslaved persons.’ The axe man would stand on a platform which was located twelve feet above the ground because the trees had arching roots. He used his skill and strength to cut down the tree. When it was felled, the other enslaved persons would begin to trim the tree of its branches and ‘clear a path to drag it to the nearest river’. The forest was very hot and as a result the ‘carting’ or ‘trucking’ of the timber to the river was generally done at nights when pitch pine torches were used to light the path of the workers.’ At the river the lumber ‘was then floated down to the river’s mouth where it was roughly squared and then put on a ship to be transported to Europe’. The enslaved lived in camps located on the riverside with five to fifty people. They included those who cultivated crops for their consumption or cooked for the timber workers. ‘When the skilled loggers grew old, they joined the food producers.’ Differences between slavery in British Honduras and the sugar islands The logging industry produced a different type of slavery from slavery in the sugar islands. The differences included the following: * There was no large concentration of enslaved persons as in a plantation society because the enslaved worked in small groups or alone. * The enslaved had ‘great freedom’ to move around. * Their working hours were more flexible. * They did not endure rigid supervision like those on the sugar plantation. * On many occasions they were alone with their masters in the forests. However, their masters trusted them enough that some of them were ‘allowed to carry guns to hunt small game for food, as well as protect themselves from wild animals such as the jaguar.’ * The enslaved in British Honduras had Saturdays off. If they chose to work, then they worked for wages. * They were said to have had ample facilities for the purchase of freedom, and so the annual rate of manumission in British Honduras was higher than in any other British colony.

THE SUGAR REVOLUTION

C:\Users\Patronella\Pictures\SUAGARCANECUTTER1830.jpg

Videos to watch
(773) Modern Slavery: The Most-Afflicted Countries - YouTube
(773) How Slavery Started and Slavery Today | History of Slavery | American Civil War - YouTube
(773) Slavery in the Ancient World: Rome, China, and Africa - YouTube
(773) The White Slaves of Barbary North Africa and the Ottoman Empire - YouTube
(790) Why History Matters | Patrick Allitt | TEDxEmory - YouTube
What was the sugar revolution? by Kiymeiah Millington (prezi.com)
A Brief History of Sugar From Slavery to Sweetener - YouTube
Background: Tobacco
The European colonists faced challenges trying to find a crop to cultivate for profit. As a result, they cultivated cotton, cocoa, coffee and indigo which were ‘the most profitable for the colonists to sell to Europe.’ Perishable goods like fruit and unsalted meats or those which were bulky, like timber and cattle, were not suitable for trade because the ships ‘even up to the 17th century were quite small, took months to travel between Europe and the Caribbean and had no refrigeration.’
The goods produced in the Caribbean had to be ‘small and aimed at a luxury market’ this means they had to be produced for wealthy people who saw no problem paying high prices for them. Cocoa and coffee were in great demand among the wealthy, but they faced competition from tea which came from the East Indies. It then became less profitable for them to cultivate these crops. Cotton and dyes (from indigo and logwood) made a small profit with the cloth producers but with the coming of the Industrial Revolution weaving became cheaper and there was no longer a high demand for these products.
Tobacco did not face any of these problems, in fact there were many advantages to tobacco cultivation. They included:
* Once its leaves were cured it was not perishable.
* Large amounts could be stored in small packages for transport.
* It was easy to cultivate as the landowner, his family and in a few cases a few labourers worked the land.
* It did not need a lot of capital to purchase machinery, buildings, or livestock.
* There was a great demand for it in Europe among the nobility who adopted it as the latest fashion.
In the 17th century (around 1640) there was a decline in the cultivation of tobacco for 
the following reasons:
* Competition from the British North American colony of Virginia which produced a cheaper and better-quality tobacco than the Caribbean tobacco.
* Sugar had the same advantages as tobacco, but it required ‘more labour and …. investment’.
* Honey, which was used as a sweetener for tea and coffee, which was becoming popular was also becoming very expensive.
* Competition from the Dutch trading tobacco at Araya in Venezuela and later Curaçao.
* The Caribbean provided the right climate for the cultivation of sugar.
Videos to watch
(769) The Surprising History of Tobacco - YouTube
(769) The Sugar Plantations of British Barbados - YouTube

Definition of the Sugar Revolution
The Sugar Revolution was a sudden, drastic change from the cultivation of the cash crop tobacco to sugar cane cultivation and sugar production. An example of this can be seen in the colony of Barbados where the change took place in a mere ten years (1640 to 1650).
Video to watch
(769) A Brief History of Sugar from Slavery to Sweetener - YouTube
(799) History of Sugar Trade - YouTube
(799) The History of Sugar- A Tale neither short nor sweet - YouTube
The introduction of sugar cane cultivation and sugar production
Sugar cane cultivation and sugar production would prove to be an ideal replacement for tobacco production. Since sugar cane had to be grown in a tropical or subtropical climate, the West Indies were an ideal place to grow it. In addition, there was a great demand for it in Europe, especially in the towns or urban areas. It was used in the following ways:
* To preserve those fruits which were not made into jam.
* To aid in the brewing of beer and ale that was consumed everywhere.
* To make cake and biscuits.
* As a sweetener for coffee, tea and cocoa.
The sources of sugar were very limited in Europe they were from:
* Bees which could be found in the hives in every village or on every rich man’s estate.
* A small amount of cane sugar was grown in the Mediterranean islands and southern Spain like Sicily and Cyprus.
The role of the Dutch 
The Dutch and the Portuguese were fighting for possession of Brazil for a long time and the Dutch were finally expelled from Pernambuco in Brazil around 1640 by the Portuguese.  Many fled to the eastern Caribbean, including Barbados as refugees bringing with them their knowledge and expertise of sugar production.
The Dutch were also the greatest traders in the Caribbean region having almost complete control of it.  They wanted to increase their trade, and they realized that encouraging the planting of sugar cane was a great opportunity.
The Dutch provided everything the planter needed like capital to invest in the crop, labour (the enslaved from West Africa) and knowledge and expertise of how to grow and produce the crop.  Sugar cane production became very profitable, and many colonies took it as their main crop.
The consequences of (or the effects of) the introduction of sugar to the economy
The period between 1643 and 1660 saw the island (Barbados) being transformed from tobacco cultivation into a total sugar plantation economy. At least 80% of the island’s 100,000 acres were used in sugar production. Only a few continued with the first crops tobacco, cotton or indigo.
The consequences (or effects) of the change from tobacco cultivation to sugar cane cultivation were:
* Economic - Changes in the size of the land being cultivated, the value of the land and a monoculture economy.
* Social - Change from European labour to African enslaved labour, changes in the social composition, a stratified society and absenteeism.
* Political changes – changes from Proprietorship to Representative system of government.
Economic changes
The cultivation of sugar cane resulted in major changes to the land like:
* Changes in the size of the land being cultivated- planters bought small plots of tobacco land which were owned by their neighbours and made them into large sugar estates. As a result, the number of landowners decreased as seen in Barbados where the number of landowners had fallen from 11 200 in 1645 to 745 by 1667.
* Changes in the value of the land – the Sugar Revolution led to a great increase in the value of land in the 1640s it multiplied by more than fifteen in Barbados and in Nevis by more than ten.
* A monoculture economy developed because of the sugar revolution; this is the concentration on the cultivation of one crop. This was mainly done in the English colonies where sugar made such great profits that the planters neglected other crops.  By 1660 Barbados was virtually a sugar island. The demand for tobacco had declined so much that it was no longer possible to make a living from growing it. 
This heavy focus on sugar soon resulted in the island being unable to grow enough food to feed its rising population. This in turn caused Barbados to begin relying on imported foodstuffs such as dried fish, wheat and meat from the North American colonies.

Social changes 
* The change from European labour to African labour- European labour was not suitable for sugar cane production which needed a huge set of workers unlike tobacco production. Sugar cane cultivation required labour for the yearly cycle of planting, cutting, hauling, crushing, boiling and packing. The European workers could not or did not want to handle this type of work. The solution came with the African enslaved labourer.
* A change in the social composition – the sugar revolution brought about changes in the size and composition of the population of the islands. In most cases the white population was decreasing and was replaced by a relatively small number of wealthy landowners employing white employees at the supervisory level on the large plantations. The black population increased and dominated the social composition of the islands. The sugar society which replaced tobacco then became a small white elite and mass of black enslaved persons.
* A stratified society – society changed from being over 90% free before the Sugar Revolution to being over 90% enslaved after it. ‘Free’ meant ‘white’ and ‘enslaved’ meant ‘black’. There were divisions within the two groups, amongst the enslaved it was based on occupations like domestic, artisan, factory and field. Social divisions among the whites were made based on wealth, education, or family background.
* Absenteeism – the Sugar Revolution was also responsible for the introduction of the practice of absenteeism into the West Indian life. The profits of the sugar industry in the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century were so great that many of the richer planters were able to return to England, set up residence there and live off the proceeds of their West Indian estates. This was unique to the English islands. There were several push and pull factors which made this decision easier for them.
Political changes
* The change in the political structure from Lords-Proprietors or the Proprietary System to the Representative System – the British colonies before the Sugar Revolution were controlled by Lords-Proprietors. After the Sugar Revolution the colonies became so valuable that by 1660 a new system was put in place the Representative System.
The region became very attractive because of its wealth and the West Indies thus became pawns in the game of international politics and the region became a theatre of maritime warfare.
AFRICANS: THE IDEAL LABOUR FORCE FOR THE SUGAR INDUSTRY
REASONS SPANIARDS WERE THE FIRST EUROPEANS TO IMPORT AFRICANS AS ENSLAVED PERSONS
The Spaniards had to look for a new labour force in the 16th century (1500s) for the following reasons:
* The Amerindian population had decreased significantly so a new source of labour was needed urgently.
* The Spaniards did not want to work in the fields or the mines, the Spanish government initially used white labour. They sent their own people to the New World under similar conditions to slavery, but they were never enough workers.
* The small numbers that came did not solve the labour problem as they were mainly barbers, tailors and others who did not have the skills needed for cultivation or they did not want to work.
* Las Casas was said to have suggested to the king that one Negro’s labour was more valuable than that of four Indians so they should try to import African enslaved persons.
* There was this belief that Africans were better suited for hard labour.
* The Spaniards saw the African as an inferior race whose sole purpose was to serve and they believed that as non-Christians, Africans deserved enslavement. This reason ‘provided the rationalization for African slavery and the African Slave Trade’.
* The Spaniards had always brought African enslaved persons from the Portuguese as they were the ones who ‘developed a tradition of using Africans as enslaved persons.’
* They needed workers urgently for their now developing sugar industry in the New World.
* They had the money to buy the enslaved persons and so by the beginning of the 16th century African enslaved persons began arriving in islands like Hispaniola to work on Spanish farms.
At the beginning of the trade enslaved persons were taken from Spain or Portugal and then sent to the New World. The year 1518 was the year the Portuguese carried their ‘first cargo of captives directly from West Africa to the West Indies. After the Slave Trade grew by leaps and bounds.
REASONS AFRICANS WERE CHOSEN AS LABOURERS ON THE SUGAR PLANTATIONS
The 1600s or 17th century
After many failed attempts, like the Amerindians and the white indentured labourers, of finding a cheap, reliable labour force the English and French settlers decided on African enslaved labour. They preferred the African enslaved persons for the following reasons:
* For sugar cane to be profitable, it had to be done on a large scale. It needed large areas of land and a large labour force.
* There was no large indigenous population (the Amerindians) in the territories like Jamaica, Barbados, and Belize to provide a reliable labour.
* The Caribs (Kalinagos) who lived in the French territories of the eastern Caribbean and the Windward Islands fought against being enslaved.
* The planters believed it was easier to enslave and control enslave labour than the white indentured servants.
* It was very hard to get indentured servants, and they were expensive.
* The planters did not have to give land to the enslaved people like they did with the indentured servants to get them to work.
* Indentured servants did not want to work beside enslaved persons.
* To keep the support of the whites the planters had to stop using indentured labour.
* Although enslaved persons were expensive in the long term the planters would be able to make a profit from them in terms of the goods produced and the children of enslaved persons became the property of their masters.
* The planters/Europeans saw Africans as an inferior race, “hewers of wood and drawers of water”.
* There was a constant supply of African enslaved persons as the number of traders increased.
* There was money available to buy the enslaved persons.
After the 1700s the demand for enslaved persons increased greatly because:
* As the demand for sugar increased so did the demand for African labour.
* New colonies began to cultivate sugar, so more land was used and the demand for African labour to work the plantation also increased.
* More and more people became involved in the slave trade.
* The harsh treatment of the enslaved persons resulted in many of them dying so they had to be replaced on a regular basis to take the place of those who had died and add to the numbers needed for the expanding sugar industry.
THE REASONS FOR THE CHANGE FROM LOGWOOD TO MAHOGANY
Logwood
       British Honduras (Belize) was unlike most of the British Caribbean, it had a population of 3,000 enslaved persons and was mainly focused on logging. It had large resources of logwood and mahogany. During the 17th century and 18th centuries logwood was in high demand in Europe and as a result, Europeans paid a high price for it. In Europe it was used to make dyes to add colour to woolen cloth.
       In the beginning it was the Spanish who dominated the logwood trade. However, after the Seven Years War (1756 – 1763) Spain ‘agreed to the right of Englishmen to cut logwood in Honduras but Spain still regarded the territory as hers’. Eventually Europeans discovered new ways of making dyes so the demand for logwood decreased significantly. This led to the British settlers looking for another timber to trade. Their answer came with mahogany which was a hardwood used in the manufacturing of furniture.
Mahogany
        The enslaved population in British Honduras was mainly involved in the felling of mahogany trees, then ‘cutting and hauling the logs and floating them downstream’. Some of the enslaved were skilled like the huntsman and axe man.
        The first step of the operation involved the huntsman looking for the trees that were ‘ready for cutting’. He would do this early in the year since this was the time they could be identified by their ‘new red-brown leaves (which) could be easily seen’. His goal was to find a ‘large number of trees and to be able to lead other workers to where they were in the forest.’
        The trees to be felled were between the ages of 60 and 80 years old and could grow to over 100 feet tall and ‘anywhere from three to twelve feet in diameter’. When the trees were located, they became the ‘responsibility of the axe men and then the other enslaved persons.’ 
        The axe man would stand on a platform which was located twelve feet above the ground because the trees had arching roots. He used his skill and strength to cut down the tree. When it was felled, the other enslaved persons would begin to trim the tree of its branches and ‘clear a path to drag it to the nearest river’. The forest was very hot and as a result the ‘carting’ or ‘trucking’ of the timber to the river was generally done at nights when pitch pine torches were used to light the path of the workers.’
         At the river the lumber ‘was then floated down to the river’s mouth where it was roughly squared and then put on a ship to be transported to Europe’. The enslaved lived in camps located on the riverside with five to fifty people. They included those who cultivated crops for their consumption or cooked for the timber workers. ‘When the skilled loggers grew old, they joined the food producers.’
Differences between slavery in British Honduras and the sugar islands
         The logging industry produced a different type of slavery from slavery in the sugar islands. The differences included the following:
* There was no large concentration of enslaved persons as in a plantation society because the enslaved worked in small groups or alone.
* The enslaved had ‘great freedom’ to move around.
* Their working hours were more flexible.
* They did not endure rigid supervision like those on the sugar plantation.
* On many occasions they were alone with their masters in the forests. However, their masters trusted them enough that some of them were ‘allowed to carry guns to hunt small game for food, as well as protect themselves from wild animals such as the jaguar.’
* The enslaved in British Honduras had Saturdays off.  If they chose to work, then they worked for wages.
* They were said to have had ample facilities for the purchase of freedom, and so the annual rate of manumission in British Honduras was higher than in any other British colony.

Transcript for:The Impact of the Sugar Revolution

Transcript for:
The Impact of the Sugar Revolution