The document discusses the history and development of sugar production and its connection to slavery. It traces the evolution of sugar cultivation from ancient times through its introduction in Europe via the Crusades. The large-scale plantation system originated in Brazil and spread through the colonization of the Caribbean and Americas. Plantations were labor-intensive and relied heavily on African slaves, who were forcibly transported in large numbers. The slave trade generated significant wealth but also involved immense human suffering. The plantation economy collapsed in the 1800s due to abolitionism, competition from sugar beets, and inefficiencies of the slave system.

1. Sugar and Slavery Tropical Agriculture and the Plantation Economy

3. Honey Bee in Ancient Egypt Hunter of bees, Arana, Spain 7000 BCE

4. Collecting Honey from Hives

5. Honey Garden with wattle fence, fountain. Apiary surrounded by wattle fence.

6. Collection of sap from sugar palm Sweet Sap from Sugar Palm and Maple Collection of sap from sugar maple and evaporation in North America

9. Arab expansion of sugar production (blue line)

10. Sugar Manufacture Extraction of sugar in Sicily, 1584 Production of sugar in Venice

18. Slave capture

19. Transportation

20. The forcible exile of over 12 million Africans to work the plantations of European colonists.