Sugar

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Sugar refers to a type of sweet-tasting carbohydrate, which can exist in various forms at the molecular level. Sugar is made by plants though photosynthesis and is commonly used by humans in various foods and beverages in addition to being naturally present in many foods. Plants with high sugar yields such as sugarcane and beets are grown as crops from which sugar is extracted. The production of sugar as a commodity has played a major role in world history and has been intertwined with colonialism and slavery. The development of the plantation system of agriculture can also be traced to sugar cultivation.

Production

Sugar cane accounts for approximately 80% of global sugar production while sugar beet accounts for approximately 20%. Sugarcane and sugar beets require different growing conditions, with sugarcane growing in tropical climates and sugar beet growing better in temperate climates.

Brazil is the largest producer of sugarcane. Other major producers of sugarcane are India, Thailand, China, Australia, Mexico and South Africa, among others. Among the largest producers of sugar beet are Russia, France, the United States, and Germany.

Other than crystalized sugar for culinary use, other sugar products include molasses and pulp. Molasses has various applications, including uses in cooking, as well as in livestock feed and for fermentation. It can also be distilled into ethanol, which can be used in a variety of industries. Pulp can be dried and mixed with molasses as a fertilizer or as animal feed, among other uses.

History

Sugarcane is believed to have been domesticated in New Guinea around 6000 BC. Methods of boiling sugarcane juice into crystals was developed in India around 500 BC. Knowledge of sugar-making later spread to Persia and eventually reached medieval Europe via trade routes.

Production of sugar in the Iberian peninsula began around 900 CE, with its boom starting around 1300 and lasting until around 1500. The Portuguese would come to pursue sugar production on a world scale as they explored and colonized various regions, and enslaving people to work on sugar plantations. Other European powers would also come to participate in this industry in a similar manner.

From the start of Atlantic sugar production by European powers, enslaved people were the main labor force, with Europeans typically forcing the indigenous people of a colonized area into slavery, and then importing slaves from elsewhere. Atlantic islands once used for sugar plantations would later become hubs for shipping enslaved Africans to the Americas. These activities, among others, were foundational to the development of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and played a major role in the colonization of the Americas. Brazil and the Caribbean would come to be major locations of sugar production throughout this process.