Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent Chapter Summary & Analysis - King Sugar and Other Agricultural Monarchs Summary

King Sugar and Other Agricultural Monarchs Summary and Analysis

Plantations, Latifundia and Fate

Next to gold, sugar was a source of great wealth for the Latin American conquerors. England and and France entered an arrangement whereby they shared the profits of slave trade to the Americas. These profits led to gains in the industrial development for the English, French, Dutch and the US, while at the same time destroying the economy of NE Brazil and the Island sugar producers.

The key to success in the sugar industry was the traffic of slaves. From the beginning of the sixteenth century to the start of the nineteenth century, millions of Africans crossed the Atlantic, forced into a life of slavery. The ones that survived the trip were destined to lead miserable lives rife with hard labor, no reward, illness, hunger, torture and early death. Upon arrival in Latin America, slaves that were too small or sick to be sold...
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