UWEC geog111 Vogeler - Central American Sugar Cane

	Central American Sugar Cane Sugar cane was a major plantation crop organized by European owners with European capital and machinery for European markets. Slavery played a critical role as well. European traders exchanged manufactured goods, such as guns, with African rulers who captured African slaves. The slaves were brought to the Americas were exchanged for sugar, rum, etc. to being sold in Europe. A trading triangle trade emerged.
	The oranges used for Grand Marnier, the liqueur with the distinctive taste of oranges, are picked on a French-owned plantation in Haiti. Hundreds of people pick and peel oranges for 20 cents a crate for 12 hours a day. The company had net income of $16 million in 1998 [Source: New Internationalist, November 2000]. Price this liqueur in a store to determine the rate of exploitation of the workers.
What did the tropical colonies, and later, countries contribute? How does this relate to hunger in these countries? Where and on what kind of land were and still are these export crops grown? On the topographic map below, sugar cane is shown in yellow. Several sugar factories, shown as Fcty, crush the cane for its juice and then boil the liquid.

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Created by Ingolf Vogeler on 1 February 1996; last revised on 24 Sep 2010.