Sugar cutters
Object
Sugar cutters
Production date
Late 18th century
Object number
2008.2
Physical Description
A pair of sugar cutters for chipping sugar off a sugar loaf
Material
Steel
Exhibition Label
From the exhibition 'African Threads, Hackney Style: 400 years of textiles journeys from Africa to Hackney' [1 October 2015 - 23 January 2016]
The introduction of sugar cultivation in Barbados in the 1640s created a demand for enslaved Africans to work on the Caribbean plantations.
Textiles and other goods traded in West Africa created a steady supply of enslaved Africans to British colonies in the Caribbean and North America. The wealth created by sugar cultivation in the region directly contributed to the growth of the British economy. A growing taste for tea and coffee was driving demand for sugar as a sweetener.
By the 1650s Barbados produced an annual sugar crop valued at over £3 million in today’s money. This was greater than the value of all the other colonies in the Americas put together. The British used poor European indentured servants to labour on plantations in the Caribbean and North America, alongside large numbers of enslaved Africans.
The introduction of sugar cultivation in Barbados in the 1640s created a demand for enslaved Africans to work on the Caribbean plantations.
Textiles and other goods traded in West Africa created a steady supply of enslaved Africans to British colonies in the Caribbean and North America. The wealth created by sugar cultivation in the region directly contributed to the growth of the British economy. A growing taste for tea and coffee was driving demand for sugar as a sweetener.
By the 1650s Barbados produced an annual sugar crop valued at over £3 million in today’s money. This was greater than the value of all the other colonies in the Americas put together. The British used poor European indentured servants to labour on plantations in the Caribbean and North America, alongside large numbers of enslaved Africans.
On display?
No