The Bitter Cauldron

Boiling Down The Sweet: The Iron Heart of Barbados' Sugar Industry




Sugar in Barbados. Sugarcane growing began in Barbados in the early 1640s, when Dutch merchants came to help with sugar cane harvesting. 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 turned into one of the wealthiest nests in the British Empire, making 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 days of colonial slavery was  an unforgiving process. After collecting and crushing the sugarcane, its juice was boiled in huge cast iron kettles up until it turned into sugar. These pots, typically set up in a series called a"" train"" were warmed by blazing fires that enslaved Africans needed to stoke constantly. The heat was extreme, the flames unforgiving and the work unrelenting. Enslaved employees endured long hours, frequently standing close to the inferno, risking burns and fatigue. Splashes of the boiling liquid were not uncommon and could cause serious, even deadly, injuries.

A Life of Peril

The dangers were ever present for the enslaved employees entrusted with tending these kettles. They laboured in intense heat, inhaling dangerous gases from the boiling sugar and burning fuel. The work required intense physical effort and precision; a minute of inattention could result in mishaps. Despite these challenges, shackled Africans brought exceptional ability and resourcefulness to the procedure, making sure the quality of the end product. This item fueled economies far beyond Barbados" shores.


Today, the large cast iron boiling pots points out this unpleasant past. Scattered across gardens, museums, and archaeological sites in Barbados, they stand as quiet witnesses to the lives they touched. These relics motivate us to assess the human suffering behind the sweetness that as soon as drove global economies.


HISTORICAL RECORDS!

Abolitionist Voices Agree on the Deadly Fate of Boiling Sugar

Accounts, such as James Ramsay's works, clarified the gruesome risks oppressed workers handled in Caribbean sugar plantations. The boiling places, with its open barrels of scalding sugar, was a site of unthinkable suffering -- one of lots of Perils of plantation life.


Sweetness Forged in Fire: The Sugar-Boiling Legacy - See the link for More

The Iron Heart of Barbados' Sugar