How sugarcane plantations began

Discover the history of sugar production in Europe, from honey to 'white gold' and the impact on global trade.

If you lived in Europe 1000 years ago and craved a sweet treat, you would most likely have been thoroughly disappointed. No sugarcane grew in those cold lands. Most people used honey for sweetening. It was only a few 100 years ago that Europe became aware of this honey-bearing reed that grew in tropical climates and began importing sugar from the east. It was a luxury so expensive that people called it ‘white gold’.

Towards the end of the 14th century, trade in sugar and other invaluable products was disrupted because the routes fell under the control of rival empires. Europe, however, had developed a taste for such treats. So, European empires, beginning with Portugal, began to encourage explorers to set sail on the uncharted ocean in search of new trade routes that would lead them to lands from where they could directly source such luxuries.

Along the western coast of Africa, Portuguese explorers chanced upon Madeira, an isolated island where they found they could grow sugarcane. Soon, thousands of hectares of forest were chopped down to grow sugarcane: the first major plantation crop in the world.

Making sugar is tricky work. Once the cane is cut, it needs to be processed quickly to prevent the juice from spoiling. In 1452, the first sugar mill arrived in Madeira. Soon, more followed and each used up several kilos of fuelwood to manufacture a kilo of sugar, leading to extensive deforestation. Sugarcane is a thirsty crop that guzzles large amounts of water. As sugarcane plantations increased in Madeira, a vast network of irrigation canals called levadas had to be built to water them, eating into the island’s water supplies.

A lot of manual labour was needed to tend to the plantations and work in the sugar mills. Since Madeira had hardly any inhabitants, workers were brought from outside. Human habitation took its own toll on the island’s natural resources, as people needed homes to stay, food to eat, water to drink. Besides, plantation workers had a very hard life; they worked under extremely poor conditions and were often mistreated.

Riddled with all these problems, sugar production in Madeira began to decline during the 1500s. Eventually, the Portuguese had to shift sugar cultivation to São Tomé and Brazil. The unprecedented ecological devastation in Madeira, meanwhile, was largely ignored. All that its colonisers saw was the impressive profit the sugarcane plantation had generated. That’s why, what began with the Portuguese sugarcane plantations in Madeira was repeated all over the world.

By the 17th century, using ever-improving navigation technology, European empires had reached different parts of the world and all kinds of profitable crops sought by them were prospering in plantations overseas.