Barbados Sugar’s Unseen History\ Sugar Iron and Fire

Boiling Sugar: The Bitter Side of Sweet

In 18th-century Barbados, sugar production counted on cast-iron syrup kettles, a method later adopted in the American South. Sugarcane was crushed utilizing wind and animal-powered mills. The extracted juice was boiled, clarified, and evaporated in a series of cast-iron pots of reducing size to create crystallized sugar.



Barbados Sugar Economy: A Bitter Exploitation. The beginning of the "plantation system" revolutionized the island's economy. Large estates owned by rich planters controlled the landscape, with shackled Africans supplying the labour required to sustain the requiring process of planting, harvesting, and processing sugarcane. This system generated immense wealth for the nest and solidified its location as a key player in the Atlantic trade. But African slaves toiled in perilous conditions, and many died in the infamous Boiling room, as you will see next:

The Hidden Dangers Behind Sugar

In the glare of Barbados' sun-soaked coasts and dynamic greenery lies a darker tale of resilience and difficulty-- the harmful labour behind its once-thriving sugar economy. Central to this story is the big cast iron boiling pots, essential tools in the sugar production procedure, but also traumatic signs of the gruelling conditions dealt with by enslaved Africans.

Boiling Sugar: A Lealthal Task

Making sugar in the 17th and 18th centuries was  an unforgiving procedure. After collecting and squashing the sugarcane, its juice was boiled in huge cast iron kettles till it turned into sugar. These pots, typically organized in a series called a"" train"" were warmed by blazing fires that enslaved Africans had to stoke continuously. The heat was suffocating, , and the work unrelenting. Enslaved employees withstood long hours, frequently standing close to the inferno, running the risk of burns and fatigue. Splashes of the boiling liquid were not uncommon and could cause serious, even fatal, injuries.




Today, the big cast iron boiling pots points out this uncomfortable past. Spread throughout gardens, museums, and historical sites in Barbados, they stand as silent witnesses to the lives they touched. These relics encourage us to assess the human suffering behind the sweetness that once drove international economies.


HISTORICAL RECORDS!


 Abolitionist Expose Sugar Plantation Horrors
 
Abolitionist writings, consisting of James Ramsay's works, expose the ruthless dangers enslaved staff members dealt with in Caribbean sugar plantations. The boiling house, with its enormous open barrels of scalding sugar, became an area of unthinkable suffering and fatal accidents.


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The Bitter Side of Sweet |The Dark Side of Sugar: |Sweet Taste Forged in Fire |
Molten Memories: The Iron Pots of Sugar |

The Iron Kettles of Sugar