The Sweet and Sour History of Sugar

Regardless of its sweetness, the history of sugar remains tarnished. Whether you have a sweet tooth or avoid sugar, the production of this controversial carbohydrate has had a lasting impact on world history and human health.

As you’d expect, I’m going to focus on the history.

Next week (28^th August) brings the release of Tea with Austen. If you’ve missed any of my promo posts, my short story, Wooing Miss Woodforde, features a tea party. Check out my post, Georgian Tea Parties, for some wonderful facts about tea and what happened at a tea party. One thing you could expect was to be offered sugar with your tea.

A Brief History of Sugar

You know I try (and often fail) to keep it brief. Here are a few significant points on the timeline:

Humans have chewed sugar cane since pre-historic times. It seems humans have always had a sweet tooth.
The first domesticated cultivation of sugar cane can be traced back to around 8,000 years ago in Papua New Guinea.
From that point, sugar cane cultivation spread through Southeast Asia, China, India and Persia. Ancient Greek and Roman records mention crystallised sugar as a medicinal treatment for indigestion and stomach ailments.
Sugar or “sweet salt” was introduced to Western Europe around the end of the eleventh century following the spread of the Persian empire into North Africa and southern Spain, and the return of the Crusaders.
In 1658, Dutch colonists introduced sugar cane to South America and the Caribbean.
By the end of the eighteenth century, British and French colonies in the West Indies produced eighty per cent of Europe’s sugar.
German chemist Andreas Marggraf identified sugar in beet roots in 1747, and sugar beets began to be processed to produce sugar.

Sugar in the Eighteenth-and Nineteenth Centuries

Throughout this period, sugar was intimately linked with power, empire-building, status and slavery.

Sugar production was an expensive process, which made the final product expensive. Consuming sugar became a status symbol for the wealthy. At social gatherings and feasts, hosts displayed their wealth through sugar sculptures with allegorical and political symbolism.

The demand for affordable sugar encouraged plantation owners to cut production costs. In Barbados, the British plantation owners used British convicts and prisoners for their labour force, but as sugar production became increasingly profitable, plantation owners across the Americas and the Caribbean turned to slave labour.

Sugar and Slavery

From the mid-1600s, the enforced transportation of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic accelerated. Using slave labour made the Caribbean the most significant producer of sugar across the globe.

Enslaved labourers worked at every stage of the production line from prepping the soil, sowing and tending the cane, harvesting the crop, and processing the sugar cane into sugar crystals and molasses. They even made rum from distilled waste products.

Slave labour made the plantation owners and the British Empire rich.

Consumer Power

In 1700, as a nation, Britain consumed four pounds of sugar per head. By 1800, it had risen to eighteen pounds.

The campaign for the abolition of slavery began in 1787. As more and more of the general public realised the conditions enslaved Africans endured, they made consumer choices to affect trade and influence legislation.

“As he sweetens his tea, let him consider the bitterness at the bottom of the cup.”
From a pamphlet addressed “To Everyone Who Uses Sugar” by William Cowper

In the East Indies, sugar cane was grown without using slave labour, and purchasing East India sugar became a badge of honour. Some households even refused to purchase sugar as a show of support. Purchasing “free-grown” sugar may have been more expensive, but public sentiment had turned against the “sugar-rich” and the methods used to amass their wealth.

Businesses such as confectioners and tea houses also distanced themselves from the slave trade and advertised that they only used East India sugar. The British Museum has an excellent example of a blue glass sugar bowl painted with the following text: “East India sugar – not made by slaves”.

West Indian sugar producers were unhappy about all this and tried to lobby parliament to oppose large imports of East India sugar.

Despite passing the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833, slavery persisted in the British colonies until 1838. Slave owners were paid around £20 million in compensation for losing their “property”. Newly liberated individuals received nothing.

So, while initially sweet, the history of sugar continues to leave a sour taste in its wake. Plus, with the rise of obesity and diabetes, our relationship with all things sweet continues to be turbulent.