Forged for Sugar
Boiling Down The Sweet: The Iron Heart of Barbados' Sugar Industry In 18th-century Barbados, sugar was made in cast-iron syrup kettles, an approach later on embraced in the American South. Sugarcane was crushed using wind and animal-powered mills. The drawn out juice was heated, clarified, and evaporated in a series of iron kettles of decreasing size to produce crystallized sugar. The Rise of Barbados Sugar Wealth. Sugarcane cultivation started in Barbados in the early 1640s, when Dutch merchants introduced sugar production. The island's soil and favourable climate made it an ideal location for harvesting sugar. By the mid-17th century, Barbados had become one of the wealthiest colonies in the British Empire, earning the nickname "Little England."By the mid-17th century, Barbados had become one of the most affluent nests in the British Empire, making the nickname "Little England." But all was not sweetness in the land of Sugar as we discove...