The Bitter and Sweet History of Sugar
- Mark Dworkin
- Jun 19
- 9 min read
Updated: Jun 23
John F. McKeon
The story of St. Croix is the story of sugar. From 1650 onwards the islands of the Caribbean experienced significant conflict involving European powers trying to control the islands and their trade routes. This era witnessed privateers, pirates, and wars between England, Spain, France, and the Dutch. Vast fortunes were made and lost in the growing and trading of sugar, a commodity so lucrative that it was known as ‘white gold’. How did sugar become so much in demand and so profitable? What part did it play in the development of St. Croix? We need to look back to its origins to answer these questions.
The Origins of Sugar
Sugar came to western civilization from Asia, it was cultivated in India, and brought back by Alexander the Great from the banks of the Indus. It was referred to as the "honey-bearing reed." (1)
The cane itself was known in China before the time of Christ. However, the refining of sugar most likely developed in India, in the seventh century. At the same time it was also cultivated in ancient Persia. The sugar trade expanded from the Middle East, through Asia Minor to Europe.The Arabs discovered it through conquest, and carried it westward when establishing the Caliphate. They introduced its cultivation in Egypt, and eventually in Spain. The Christian Crusaders brought sugar back with them to Europe. Sugar became an important commodity and was transported over medieval trade routes. The Italian City of Venice became a vital distribution center, it was centrally located and already featured established trade networks
Plant Pathology Circular No. 205 Fla. Dept. Agric. & Consumer Services October 1979 Division of Plant Industry 1 S. A. Alfieri, Jr. Grown in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, and its history dates from 325 BCE in Asia. It was introduced into Europe around 1000 AD, grown in countries bordering on the Mediterranean in the 1300s, introduced into the Western Hemisphere (Dominican Republic) by Christopher Columbus, thence throughout the West Indies (Cuba in 1511), and into the United States (Louisiana) in 1751 Grown
The Turkish victory in Constantinople in 1453 established the Turks complete control of the overland trade routes that connected East with West.(2) The competing European nations now sought alternative trade routes to the East. By the 1420s the Portuguese were cultivating sugar in Madeira, the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands. By 1494, they had a growing industry in San Domingo. During the ‘Age of Discovery the Portuguese and Spanish empires had come upon an entirely new continent. By that time sugar was no longer merely a commodity, it had become a luxury, …a very expensive luxury.
In the early sixteenth century, Portugal and Spain dominated the sugar trade and has established cultivation throughout the West Indies. Antwerp and later London became huge refining centers through which sugar was distributed to northern Europe. The new discoveries of cocoa, tea, and coffee in the West Indies enhanced the demand for sweetener. As time passed, the French, Dutch and British dominated the sugar trade.
The Plantation System
Sugar plantations required cheap labor that could survive tropical conditions, and they needed a lot of it. This rapidly, expanding need spawned the slave trade. Initially, Spanish and Portuguese planters in the Americas relied on Indigenous populations for labor, but these populations dwindled due to disease and harsh working conditions, leading to a need for more labor. The first slaves were taken from among indigenous populations in the Americas. In the Seventeenth century, English and French planters recruited indentured servants, as well as convicts from Europe. The indentured servants on sugar plantations (some were forced into servitude, some were working off debt) lived a miserable existence. But it must be emphasized that legally they were recognized to be persons rather than property. They were human beings rather than mere chattel.(3) Indentured servants co-existed with slaves in a structured, and oppressive system of plantation abuse and tyranny. Both of these sources of labor would, for several reasons, be insufficient to meet the great demand for laborers. The demand for sugar increased, as did its profits.
2. The fall of Constantinople marked the end of the Byzantine Empire, which had lasted for nearly 1,000 years. The 2 conquest also marked the end of the Roman Empire, which had lasted for nearly 1,500 years. The fall of Constantinople had a profound impact on Europe, shifting the balance of power and leading to a new chapter in history
3 Chattel slavery is a system where enslaved people are legally considered the personal property of their enslaver, treated as commodities that can be bought, sold, and inherited. This form of slavery strips individuals of their basic human rights and freedoms, denying them autonomy and the ability to own property, marry, or make decisions about their own lives, the enslaved person is legally defined as property, or "chattel," belonging to the enslaver. Enslaved individuals can be bought, sold, traded, and inherited, much like livestock or other possessions. Chattel slaves are denied fundamental rights and freedoms, including the right to own property, marry, or make decisions about their own lives. The status is typically inherited, meaning that the children of enslaved people are also born into slavery. Chattel slavery has been a prominent feature in various historical periods and regions, notably in the Americas during the colonial era and the transatlantic slave trade.
The African Slave Trade
The planters turned to kidnapping and importing enslaved people from Africa during the "sugar revolution"(4) of the late Seventeenth century. These slaves were permanently enslaved (as were their progeny), and worked until their usefulness was spent. African slaves were never considered ‘persons’ or even human beings. They were property, considered the same as livestock and farm implements. They were overworked, poorly fed, and denied adequate medical attentional which often resulted in death. Conversely, some contracted indentured servants went on to become foreman and overseers (as freemen) when their contracts expired.
The West Indian colonies supplied the raw commodity and raw materials that furnished the basis for the “triangular trade” between Africa, the Americas and Europe. The growth of sugar and its use is illustrated in that “consumption in Great Britain increased from 10,000 tons in 1700 to 150,000 tons by1800.” (5)
A Radical Change
However, the Nineteenth century produced a radical upheaval in the world's sugar industry, almost equal to its exponential growth during the earlier ‘Age of Discovery’. The conflicts among the European maritime empires resulted in the West Indian sugar trade becoming increasingly costly and dangerous. In 1747 German scientist Andreas Sigimund Margraff (6) proved that sucrose could be extracted from beets. French Emperor Napoleon began the development of sugar beet substitutes. He initiated the ‘Continental System’ (7)and established experimental beet sugar factories in France and offered “the first government bounty on beet sugar in 1806”.(8) Napoleon issued a decree that established thousands of acres of French land dedicated to the cultivation of the sugar beet. From 1825 to 1850, the beet sugar industry benefitted from the abolition of slavery in the European colonies. West Indian sugar became extremely costly and reduced the price that had been artificially supported by the slave plantation system. The production of beet sugar increased its proportion of the world's sugar crop from 14 percent in 1852-53 to 65 percent at the start of the twentieth century. (9)
4. The Sugar Revolution started in the early Seventeenth century. As sugar became a lucrative commodity, plantation owners moved from small-scale agriculture to large sugar plantations that required extensive land and labor.The increased demand for sugar directly correlated with a surge in the African slave population in the Caribbean, leading to the establishment of brutal plantation systems.
5. Foreign Affairs “Sugar” F. Schneider, Jr. January 1926, The Council on Foreign Relations
6. Andreas Sigimund Margraff (1747) Histoire de l'académie royale des sciences et belles-lettres de Berlin, pages 79-90. Chemical experiments made with the intention of extracting real sugar from diverse plants that grow in European areas
7. Napoleon's Continental System was a policy implemented in 1806 aimed at crippling his enemy’s (Great Britain ) economy by prohibiting trade between Britain and European countries controlled or allied with France. Napoleon developed sugar beets in France to address a sugar shortage caused by the Continental System. The British blockade of Europe disrupted sugar imports from the West Indies, forcing him to find alternative sources of sugar. Napoleon aimed to establish a domestic sugar supply and reduce France's dependence on foreign trade.
8. The End of the Sugar Bounties, F. W. Taussig, Nov 1903 Vol 18, No. 1pp 130-134 Oxford University Press.
9. G. T. Surface: "The Story of Sugar"; D. Appleton and Co., 1917. For discussion of the history of the sugar industry see also G. M. Rolph: "Something About Sugar"; J. J. Newbegin, San Francisco, 1917.
Sugar and St. Croix
For a time St. Croix was one of the wealthiest sugar islands in the West Indies. What were considered the halcyon years for the planters (not for the laborers) coincided with wars between colonial powers. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries sugar production was high, and the price on the world market was stable. The increase in sugar production paralleled the significant increase of the enslaved population. In the early 1800s, the population of St. Croix was over 30,000 of which well over two-thirds were slaves, who planted, harvested and processed cane. Yet, its best days were over by the early 1820s. As a major sugar producer, its cultivation brought great wealth (for some) on St. Croix. However, competition from beet sugar in Europe and economic instability led to a decline in the sugar industry. The emergence of beet sugar, along with emancipation in 1848 and the resulting upheaval of labor unrest, contributed to an irreversible economic decline. The last sugar plantations on the island of St. Croix ceased operating in the late 1920s.The last final sugar harvest on St. Croix was at the Bethlehem Sugar Factory in 1966. (10)
10. Ruins of the Bethlehem Central Factory and workers' residences remain, including the prominent smokestack. The former plantation land is now used for agriculture, the Virgin Islands Army National Guard headquarters, and is leased to Farmers In Action, Inc. and the Virgin Islands National Guard (VING). The Bethlehem plantation significantly influenced St. Croix's economy from the colonial era through the end of commercial sugar production.
11. With sugar cane as the islands’ main crop and the demise of the sugar industry in 1966, the territory never developed alternative means of food production. The economy had already began shifting from agriculture around 1954. Along with the development of an oil refinery, an aluminum bauxite refinery, and rum distilleries, the economic swing from a reliance on agriculture to that of tourism and industry manifested the “dynamic growth of the Virgin Islands” during that period . https://doa.vi.gov/our-history/
Throughout history, St. Croix has repeatedly attempted to transition to other industries such as aluminum, oil refining and tourism. In oil refining the most prominent example is the ‘Lime tree Bay’ refinery (Hovensa), which faced multiple closures and environmental issues. The EPA shut down operations in 2021 due to a series of harmful chemical releases. The refinery was previously shut down in 2012 due to environmental violations and financial losses. The island's tourism industry’s has experienced setbacks in the past, including the apparent collapse of tourism in the early 1970s, though currently it has seen periods of resilience.
In Aluminum Processing, the alumina factory ceased operations in 2009. Agriculture challenges include limited arable land, high costs, antiquated infrastructure, and difficulties in accessing advanced farming technology. (11)
The Sugar planting industry and its associated infrastructure such as windmills and canals have left a legacy of environmental degradation, including soil erosion and water contamination. Since its inception, sugar was integral to the economic development of empires and the expansion of world commerce. It was an outgrowth of the age discovery yet at the same time had been the cause of harmful political, cultural, social and health issues. Sugar’s industrial history altered the course of economic and political events at a great cost to human life. No other colonial industry has maintained the legacy and reputation for discrimination and inhumanity nor led to such cataclysmic human atrocities. The effects of these atrocities still endure. Sugar is a staple in the global food supply, its production and consumption have significant negative impacts, including environmental damage, health risks, and social injustice. The industry's history is intertwined with colonialism and exploitation. Lastly, modern sugar consumption is directly linked to the rise in chronic diseases worldwide.
Historian John F. McKeon lives on St. Croix USVI and in Southampton NY. He holds degrees from Trinity College Dublin,(MPhil with Distinction). and St. Joseph's University in NYC (Summa Cum Laude) East Asian History with a Philosophy Capstone Minor in Labor, Class and Ethics. John also earned a certificate from the Oxford University Epigeum Research Integrity Center. He is a current member of the Society of Virgin Island Historians.
12. Web National Museum of Denmark 2025, https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/historical-themes/danish-12 colonies/ the-danish-west-indies/the-plantation-system/the-bethlehem-plantation/
