Sugar!

Sugar history goes from South Asia to Caribbean.  Sugar is best grown in hot and humid areas, is very labor intensive, produced on a large scale, and requires an initial stage of processing.  At first, sugar was uncommon and rather rare.  It was considered a drug, I assume because it could be addictive and make you have more energy.  The idea hat sugar is a drug is kind of funny because it is so normal and widely used today.  It's as if sugar is a necessity.  I found it interesting that sugar in tea replaced alcohol.  It was also weird that tea took place of meals in general because people either didn't have time or money to eat.  The idea of using tea to replace a meal is very disturbing to me because I don't think tea is very filling at all and I have to eat.  On page 103, there is a chart for Importation and Population Statistics for the British West Indies in the 18th Century.  It shows that as time goes on, the total black population in Barbados, Jamaica, and Leeward Islands  increases, and the Slave imports increases with that. Thankfully, in the 19th century, the correlation between slavery and sugar was discontinued.  Not only did the discrimination decrease, but the intensive labor to obtain sugar decreased as well.  Thanks to technology, there are alternative ways such as mechanized sources to develop sugar and meet the needs of sugar in today's society.