Barbados Sugar’s Unseen History\ Sugar Iron and Fire
Sweet Taste Forged in Fire: Barbados Sugar-Boiling Legacy The Rise of Barbados Sugar Wealth. Sugarcane growing began in Barbados in the early 1640s, when the Dutch came to help with sugar cane harvesting. 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: The Boiling Process: A Lealthal Task Sugar production in the 17th and 18th centuries was a highly dangerous procedure. After harvesting and crushing the sugarcane, its juice was boiled in huge cast iron kettles until it turned into sugar. These pots, often set up in a series called a"" train"" were heated by blazing fires that enslaved Africans had to stoke constantly. The heat was extreme, and the work unrelenting. Enslaved workers sustained long hours, frequently standing near to the inferno, running the risk of burns and exhaust...