Sugar and Europe
In 1492 during Columbus' exploration; it is said that he stopped in the Canary Islands there he fell in love with Beatriz de Bobadilla y Ossorio. Beatriz gave him sugar cane to take with him. This story is believed to be how sugar became a worldwide major commodity. Growing sugar in Europe and even in the new land (America) so they moved the production to the Caribbean where the land is fertile and the temperature is usually warm. This was to boost production and in some cases bring forth better crops.
Beatriz de Bobadilla y Ossorio
Early Sugar Production
The 17th century was really when sugar was becoming not only a major commodity but THE commodity. Plantations changed from producing cotton and tobacco and started to produce sugar mostly. At this time more slaves were being bought and traded in mass numbers and transported to different countries to produce sugar, or it's well put nick name "white gold". In the 15th century roller mills were invented and sold to the public. Sugarcane is almost like bamboo shoots; they have a rough exterior which makes it harder
and exhausting for a man/woman to grind it up with two stones. The Grinder mill was an incredible step for the plantations. The only manual work the mill used was the crank. By cranking the mill it would rub the cane against a hard surface
which would squeeze the juice from the sugarcane and the juice would be processed and made into sugar. All over the demand for iron gears were on a rise, because they increased the power of the rollers. The small mills began to be built into factories, and all over the world there were over 3,000 mills producing the hot commodity.
grinding mill