Where is rum and sugar from? What are there connections to Africa? This article is about rum, sugar and human property; a tapestry of trade woven into the histories of the Caribbean, Britain, America and Africa. In addition to finding out where rum comes from the reader will find out about how European wealth on a massive scale was generated from the work of enslaved Africans in the Caribbean for generations which has created an imbalance in power right up to today based on the business of international trade.
Trade In Sugar Trade In Africans
In business if you do not pay for labour for many years you can become very very wealthy very quickly. The white European have always loved the black Africans in their world. The white Europeans have loved them as workers for years and years or generations and generations. They have always wanted them to be in their employ it is just that they have never wished to pay them. Never wished to pay them for their labour. Always wanted them never wished to pay them. This is how a group of people can become wealthy and pass wealth down the ages. It all started in the Caribbean and the Americas.
Not many consumers who drink rum, eat sugar as an ingredient in their foods or added to their drinks know about the histories of these products and can connect them with the wealth of European nations. The British fought wars over the control of Caribbean islands that were used for sugar cultivation as great profits could be made leading to men becoming rich in material wealth. The profit to be made came from the low costs of producing sugar as the labour was not paid and the high prices of sugar sold in Britain. The trading of sugar was working along side the trade in humans. Africans were enslaved by other Africans and marched to the coast of west Africa to be sold to Europeans. One of the main reasons for the trading was to sell them for goods shipped to Africa from Europe and from across the Atlantic. These Africans were imported into the Caribbean to meet their plantation owners labour requirements in the production of sugar and rum with the first ship arriving in 1505.
The first question we must ask ourselves is what is the alcoholic drink rum made of? Rum is made from harvested sugar cane which has been turned to molasses or black treacle, fermented and then distilled. Rum can come in many colours from light, medium or dark and the aging process can mean many complex favours can be arrived at.
For many years enslaved Africans were purchased with rum — slaves were purchased from African chiefs and shipped to the Caribbean to harvest sugar cane, which was turned to molasses and then rum, which was then shipped back to Africa to purchase more slaves.
By 1725, British traders at Sierra Leone reported to their home office that there was ‘no trade to be made without rum. Rum became the practical currency on the coast and at the European forts, with prices for slaves denominated in gallons of rum as well as ounces of gold.
Caribbean History Europeans Conquest
It can be argued that when people think of the slave trade America comes to mind and in particular the American south where cotton was grown and picked. I believe television series like roots and other high profile films created by America producers have been behind these initial thoughts. There was however extreme wealth created by the British for Britain in slave trading which was greater than that of America. This came about due to the country taking hold of the Caribbean islands of Barbados and Jamaica.
Why did the Europeans conquer the Caribbean islands? The climate in the Caribbean proved perfect for sugarcane production and to satisfy Europe's insatiable demand for sugar or 'white gold' as it was known, the English, Spanish, French, Dutch and Portuguese rapidly introduced it to their colonies in the Caribbean and Americas.
Slavery Used To Grow Sugar Cane, Process Sugar And Rum
The work on sugar plantations was brutal and was exacerbated by the hot climate; plantation owners used enslaved Africans slaves putting then to hard work. Which of these colonies first produced rum is unclear, there are records of production in Brazil in the 1620's which at the time was a Dutch colony, but the most popular claim is for Barbados. Indeed a drink fermented from sugar which was known as “kill devil” is referred to in the writings of Richard Ligon, a loyalist that fled England for Barbados in 1647 during the Civil War. “The drink of the Island, which is made of the skimming’s of the Coppers, that boil the Sugar, which they call Kill-Devil”. The first record of the word “rum” is also from Barbados. Sugar barons like James Drax amassed huge wealth in Barbados in this trade of sugar, then rum and slaves in the year 1640 till his death. So much money was made by James Drax that the British made him a knight as he held much power and influence over other men.
High Seas And The Caribbean
Controlling the seas was critical in controlling the world of trade and building empires in the 17th and 18th centuries. When we think of rum and its history, after the Caribbean, Pirates and the Navy are probably the next things that spring to mind and certainly it was the drink and currency of the high seas. The links with the British Royal Navy date back to 1655 when they captured Jamaica from the Spanish. Used as a bribe, rum started to replace brandy as protection against pirates and in 1687 the daily ration given to seaman was officially changed from brandy to rum. This ration, ¼ pint of 58% ABV rum issued twice daily, was originally drunk neat or mixed with lime to combat scurvy.
In 1740, appalled by the drunkenness on board, Admiral Vernon insisted that the mixture was watered down. This mixture became known as “grog” perhaps due to the “grogram” cloak he wore. We still use this term today to describe a hot rum drink and to define the feeling of "groggy”, maybe a term best used when expressing the after effects of drinking too much “grog”!
The Royal Navy continued to issue its daily “tot” of rum until 31st July 1970 when it was abolished, a date referred to as “black tot day”. According to legend, after his death at the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson’s body was preserved in a cask of rum to be transported home. On arrival it was discovered that the sailors had drilled holes in the cask and drank all the rum, leaving just Nelson’s pickled remains. This gave rise to the term “Nelson’s blood”
Insurance, Slaves And Sugar
Financed and insured by English banks the empire grow in wealth. Willis, Percival & Co bank financed international trade, including cargoes of sugar from the West Indies in the 1780s. Customers included owners of West Indian plantations with enslaved people. Bland, Barnett, Hoare & Co. (founded 1728). Customers included owners of Jamaican plantations with enslaved people. Praed & Co. (founded in 1802). Founding partner, William Praed, owned two plantations in Jamaica. Customers owned plantations in Jamaica. Read Lloyds bank heritage. Lloyds took over banks that had taken over other banks. There’s evidence they had links to slavery.
The Triangular Trade
Initially rum was a harsh drink, “kill devil” probably being a very appropriate description and was used to subdue slaves, but over time quality improved and it started to be traded internationally.
However, to protect their domestic spirits, Britain and France forbade its importation. As a result molasses was shipped to the new American colonies and distilled there, becoming America’s first commercially produced spirit and creating an enduring demand for rum in the US that persists today.
By the late 17th century Caribbean rum was a thriving export trade and became part of the triangular trade where molasses was sent to New England to be distilled into rum. Rum was then shipped to West Africa and exchanged for slaves which in turn were sent to work on sugar plantations in the Caribbean. An estimated 30% of slaves died on the journey.
Rum, Rivalry & Resistance : Fighting for the Caribbean Spirit by Tony Talburt (Why we recommend this book? You do not find many books out there with in deep insight into the power business of rum of the Caribbean. This book explains why European France is present with all their influence on Caribbean islands up against the independent nations. The split between Caribbean countries over their exported alcohol is look at and this contrasts with a heritage in all her people that goes back to Africa.)
Improved Quality Of Rum
During the 18th century, no longer hindered by import restrictions, rum started to grow in popularity in the UK.
There were several reasons for this; returning sailors who developed a taste on ship, improved quality due to new distillation techniques and wood ageing, and the decline of brandy due to import bans and poor harvests which left little grain for distillation.
Whilst gin became associated as the drink of the poor, the middle classes turned to rum with rum punch becoming a very fashionable drink. Molasses was imported to the UK and rum was produced in port cities such as Bristol and London.
During the 19th century, with restrictions on sugar imports into the US and the development of American Whiskey, rums popularity declined in America. At the same time, the Caribbean sugar industry started to decline due to the eventual abolition of slavery and also the production of sugar from beets instigated by Napoleon. The quality of rum continued to improve, the column (continuous) still which was patented by Aeneas Coffey in 1831 was introduced to the Bacardí Distillery in Cuba in 1889. Bacardí used these stills together with selected yeast strains and filtration technology to make the clean dry light rums that they have become so famous for.
The Sugar Barons Family, Corruption, Empire and War by Matthew Parker isbn: 9780099558453 (Why we would suggest you check this book out? In their time these barons would have been the riches men in the world. Deep dive into why Euopean countries have extreme power in the world today by banking free labour in their favour instead on their income sheets maked wages. The barons controlled the sugar supply into Britain by producing an ingredient with increasing refinement the British fell in love with. They respected their animals more than their workers. This book is a hard read. Be crictial of the author.)
Read Top Rum Brands Rum Producers
Today, however, rum is very much on the up although the demise of the Caribbean sugarcane industry has left molasses in short supply and some producers are turning to imported molasses; more encouragingly some are growing their own cane.
There is an increased interest in the UK for rums outside of the Caribbean, and from a very small base, Rhum Agricole, which is made from sugarcane juice negating the need for sugar processing plants is growing in popularity.
Sugarcane juice is the bases of rhum agricole
Trois Rivières Blanc
Trois Rivières Ambré
Velho Barreiro Cachaça
Abelha Organic Cachaça Silver
- There was an increasing demand for sugar in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries
- Sugar is add to the drinks of coffee and tea. This creates the demand in Europe
- A labor source to work the sugar plantations in the Caribbean was needed
- A triangular trade was established between Africa, the Caribbean, and the colonies to help support this need
- In the slave trade, rum was also used as a medium of exchange
- The exchange of slaves, molasses, and rum was highly profitable
- There is a growth in people buying rum today 2017
- Golden (including Spiced) and Dark have grown by 16% and 4% in volume and 24% and 10% in value respectively in the last 12 months.*
As described in this website sugar is used as in ingredient in many recipes, furthermore sugar is an additive to drinks and other foods as it has been used in this way for centuries. The price of sugar as a commodity is therefore important to the lives of all producers, buyers, sellers and consumers around the world.
Gallons of rum the product of sugar in the past was exchanged for black African enslaved people. Sugar plantations in which enslaved Africans worked for no pay for generations in the Caribbean have played a major roll in why the United Kingdom has gain wealth and power in the world today.
West Africa Cooks
Further Information Useful Links
The International Sugar Orgaization
South African Sugar Association (SASA)
The Sugar Association
Sugar Association of London and Refined Sugar Association
Tate & Lyle When you think of the world Tate. Do you think of modern art or sugar and Africans traded as slaves?
World Sugar Research Organisation
author: Charles Rappleye
title: Sons of Providence: The Brown Brothers, the Slave Trade, and the American Revolution
publisher: Simon & Schuster
date: by Charles Rappleye
From cocktail friendly white rum through mellow golden examples to molasses-rich navy bottlings, no other drink spans such a spectrum of colours and flavours. So what can you make with rum? Cocktails and rum inspired cakes.
Rum Inspired Cakes
Read Baking Essentials