The Bitter Cauldron
The Dark Side of Sugar Sugar in Barbados. Sugarcane cultivation started in Barbados in the early 1640s, when Dutch merchants introduced crop. By the mid-17th century, Barbados had become one of the wealthiest nests in the British Empire, making the nickname "Little England." But all was not sweetness in the land of Sugar as we discover next: Boiling Sugar: A Lealthal Job Sugar production in the 17th and 18th centuries was a perilous procedure. After harvesting and squashing the sugarcane, its juice was boiled in massive cast iron kettles till it crystallized into sugar. These pots, often set up in a series called a"" train"" were heated up by blazing fires that enslaved Africans had to stir continuously. The heat was suffocating, and the work unrelenting. Enslaved employees withstood long hours, frequently standing close to the inferno, risking burns and exhaustion. Splashes of the boiling liquid were not unusual and could cause extr...
