90 likes | 302 Views
Middle Passage. Caribbean Sugar Plantations. Slave labor on a sugar plantation in the West Indies. Cane taken to vertical crushing mill powered by oxen. Juice extracted flows to boiling house where liquid is boiled and refined. . Molasses to….
E N D
Caribbean Sugar Plantations Slave labor on a sugar plantation in the West Indies. Cane taken to vertical crushing mill powered by oxen. Juice extracted flows to boiling house where liquid is boiled and refined.
Molasses to…. • Byproduct of sugar production; made into a powerful alcoholic drink--RUM • Started on British island of Barbados in 1600s • What was the advantage of rum production to sugar growers?
…Rum • Not much extra cost to manufacture • Given to slaves for ration and reward • Sailors like it (good for H2O) and easier to transport. • Used to trade with Africans for slaves • Becomes a drink of the poor—why? • New England imports molasses and distills its own rum North America pulled into the triangle trade.
Irish Potato Famine 1845-1850 • Ireland’s population drops: 8 million to 5 million • Disease, starvation kill 1 million • 2 million emigrate to U.S., Canada, and Australia