Barbados Sugar’s Unseen History\ Sugar Iron and Fire
The Dark Side of Sugar
Barbados Sugar Wealth.
Sugarcane growing started in Barbados in the early
1640s, when Dutch merchants introduced sugar production. By the
mid-17th century, Barbados had become one of the most affluent colonies in the British
Empire, making the nickname "Little England." But all
was not sweetness in the land of Sugar as we discover next:
Boiling Sugar: A Grueling Job
Sugar
production in the 17th and 18th
centuries was a perilous process. After
gathering and crushing the
sugarcane, its juice was boiled in enormous cast iron
kettles up until it turned
into sugar. These pots, often
organized in a series called a"" train"" were
warmed by blazing fires that workers had to stoke
continually. The heat was
extreme, , and the work
unrelenting. Enslaved employees endured
long hours, typically standing near
to the inferno, risking burns and
fatigue. Splashes of the boiling liquid were not
uncommon and might trigger
extreme, even fatal, injuries.
The Human Cost of Sweetness
The
sugar market's success came at a severe human expense. Enslaved workers lived
under brutal conditions, subjected to physical
penalty, bad nutrition, and
relentless work. Yet, they
showed amazing
resilience. Lots of
discovered methods to protect their
cultural heritage, giving tunes, stories, and
skills that sustained their communities
even in the face of unthinkable
hardship.
Now, the
big cast iron boiling pots serve as tips of this
uncomfortable past. Scattered
throughout gardens, museums, and historical
sites in Barbados, they stand as quiet
witnesses to the lives they touched. These antiques
encourage us to reflect on the human
suffering behind the sweet taste that as soon as
drove worldwide economies.
HISTORICAL RECORDS!
Abolitionist literature on The Dangers of the Boiling House
Abolitionist
literature, including James Ramsay's works,
details the horrific dangers
dealt with by enslaved employees in sugar plantations.
The boiling house, with its
alarmingly hot vats, was a
deadly work environment where
exhaustion and extreme heat resulted
in awful mishaps.
{
The Bitter Side of Sweet |The Dark Side of
Sugar: A History in Iron |Sweet Taste Forged in Fire |
Molten Memories: The Iron Kettles of Sugar's Past |
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