Ap World History Sugar Trade Dbq Essay Example

proves that slaves were an important factor and allowed sugar crops to be easily and cheaply made. Land to grow the sugar crops was also easily accessible during the time of the sugar trade.

Document 1 shows a map of the Caribbean and indicates who owned each piece of land at the time. Before the sugar trade, Europeans hadn’t utilized this land. This made it easy to acquire and use once sugar crops were introduced. An additional map showing the areas used for sugar crops would indicate just how much of the Caribbean was used for plantations. The land also allowed plenty of room to build and house the necessary object for a plantation. Document 6 proves this point by listing all the items needed for a plantation, including 500 acres of land, and more than 300 slaves and 150 cattle.

Furthermore, the land in the Caribbean was the ideal location to grow sugar crops. Document 2 shows two charts, one with the ideal climate for sugar production and the other shows the climate of two Caribbean islands. The characteristics of each chart match well and prove that the Caribbean islands would produce an ample amount of sugar. This document could prove to be a bit false though because the information is derived from 1980 and the climate might have been different 200 years ago. Also, this far way land allowed owners of the plantations to perform their business easily by having other people do the work for them.

Document 7 lists four of the largest plantation owners of the Caribbean. In each description it states that the owners were absentees, meaning

they indeed performed their business from England rather than at the site. The lands of the Caribbean allowed sugar crops to be easily planted and provided a place to build plantations without disrupting home ground. Finally, the demand of sugar caused sales to flourish and be easily sold from markets. Document 3 states that sugar was at such a high demand and that once you tasted it, you desired it. This shows just how much of an effect sugar had on people.

An additional statement from a person who experienced this sensation of sugar would verify the effect it had on people. Document 4 states that sugar became even more demanded because of imports such as tea, coffee, and chocolate. The high demand of sugar is demonstrated in document 10, which shows a chart of the British population, sugar imports, and annual consumption. The numbers in this chart increase dramatically over the course of 70 years. However, the document was produced in 1990 and might not have the correct data for population and production numbers.

Furthermore, document 12, which states how England set up a mercantile system to gain more money, shows that sugar was at such a demand that Britain set up these laws to expand their profits even more. All these documents show that the high demand of sugar caused the trade of it to increase exponentially. All in all, the sugar trade was able to flourish because of the easy accessibility of slaves, land, and demand from people. By being able to obtain these three key elements, the sugar trade increased throughout the world and provided a major wealth gain

for many societies.