The Iron Heart of Barbados' Sugar

Sweetness Forged in Fire



The Bitter Sweet Country: Barbados Sugar Production. Barbados, frequently called the "Gem of the Caribbean," owes much of its historical prominence to one product: sugar. This golden crop changed the island from a little colonial outpost into a powerhouse of the international economy during the 17th and 18th centuries. Yet, the sweet success of sugar was built on a structure of enslaved labour, a fact that casts a shadow over its tradition.





The Boiling Process: A Lealthal Task

Making sugar in the days of colonial slavery was  a highly dangerous procedure. After harvesting and squashing the sugarcane, its juice was boiled in enormous cast iron kettles till it took shape as sugar. These pots, frequently set up in a series called a"" train"" were heated up by blazing fires that enslaved Africans needed to stir continuously. The heat was extreme, the flames unforgiving and the work unrelenting. Enslaved workers endured long hours, often standing near to the inferno, running the risk of burns and exhaustion. Splashes of the boiling liquid were not unusual and might cause serious, even deadly, injuries.

Living in Constant Peril

The risks were constant for the enslaved Africans entrusted with working these kettles. They laboured in intense heat, inhaling smoke and fumes from the burning fuel. The work demanded extreme physical effort and accuracy; a minute of negligence could cause mishaps. Regardless of these obstacles, enslaved Africans brought remarkable ability and resourcefulness to the procedure, ensuring the quality of the final product. This item sustained economies far beyond Barbados" shores.


Now, the large cast iron boiling pots points out this painful past. Spread throughout gardens, museums, and historical sites in Barbados, they stand as quiet witnesses to the lives they touched. These relics motivate us to review the human suffering behind the sweet taste that when drove worldwide economies.


HISTORICAL RECORDS!

Abolitionist Voices Concure on the Deadly Fate of Boiling Sugar

Accounts, such as James Ramsay's works, clarify the gruesome threats shackled employees faced in Caribbean sugar plantations. The boiling home, with its open barrels of scalding sugar, was a website of inconceivable suffering -- one of various scaries of plantation life.



Boiling Sugar: The Bitter Side of Sweet - Click the Blog for More

The Iron Kettles of Sugar