Barbados Molten Memories
The Dire Side of Sugar: A History in Iron Barbados Sugar Economy: A Tragic Exploitation. The beginning of the "plantation system" transformed the island's economy. Large estates owned by wealthy planters controlled the landscape, with oppressed Africans providing the labour required to sustain the demanding process of planting, harvesting, and processing sugarcane. This system generated tremendous wealth for the colony and strengthened its location as a key player in the Atlantic trade. But African slaves toiled in perilous conditions, and many died in the infamous Boiling room, as you will see next: Boiling Sugar: A Lealthal Job Making sugar in the days of colonial slavery was a highly dangerous process. After collecting and squashing the sugarcane, its juice was boiled in massive cast iron kettles till it took shape as sugar. These pots, typically set up in a series called a"" train"" were warmed by blazing fires that workers had to stoke constant...