Barbados Sugar’s Unseen History\ Sugar Iron and Fire
Sweetness Forged in Fire Barbados Sugar Wealth. Sugarcane growing began in Barbados in the early 1640s, when Dutch merchants came to help with sugar cane harvesting. By the mid-17th century, Barbados had actually become one of the most affluent colonies in the British Empire, earning the label "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 highly dangerous procedure. After harvesting and crushing the sugarcane, its juice was boiled in massive cast iron kettles up until it turned into sugar. These pots, typically set up in a series called a"" train"" were heated up by blazing fires that enslaved Africans had to stir continually. The heat was extreme, and the work unrelenting. Enslaved workers withstood long hours, frequently standing near the inferno, risking burns and fatigue. Splashes of the boiling liquid wer...