Sugar Trade Dbq Essay

Words: 920
Pages: 4

According to DNA studies, sugar derived from New Guinea 90 centuries ago. Since then, it has been discovered, traded, and introduced to regions around the world, yet the Europeans, specifically the British, remained in the dark of sugar’s glory until 1317. Due to the Columbian Exchange, sugar was able to make its way to the Caribbean. Sugar plantations soon dominated the New World and the sugar trade began. From the 1600’s to the 1800’s in the Americas, more specifically the Caribbean, the Europeans drove the sugar trade because of their abundant labor force, perfect conditions for sugar plantations, and high demand for the sweet substance which resulted in large profits. Documents 8, 10, and 11 present the contributions of a strong, plentiful slave labor force needed on a successful sugar plantation and how their contributions were absolutely necessary for any demands to be met and profits to be made. Document 8 gives us a clear depiction of what went on in an everyday sugar plantation. Slaves were being demanded around the …show more content…
I would argue that the plantations at least brought us a magnificent substance to add to our everyday lives, but sugar has no nutritional value other than gaining a person 4 calories per gram. Poor diets, including the overconsumption of sugar, cause more disease than alcohol and smoking combined. The efforts to drive the sugar trade solely benefited the Europeans economically. There was an ongoing cycle or domino effect, for lack of a better term, where a larger demand by citizens pushed plantation owners to acquire more slaves and produce more sugar which was being consumed in larger amounts as the cycle went on. The question “What drove the Sugar Trade?” cannot be one specific event or thing. The sugar trade was driven by the copious slave workers producing large amounts of this substance in ideal conditioned plantations to meet the demand of citizens and sugar