ISS 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Sidney Mintz, Sugar Beet, Wage Labour
18 Aug 2017
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Early days of colonization: consolidation of land holdings into large plantations, from diversified and subsistence farming to single export crop (sugar, cotton of coffee, create a system of economic and psychosocial dependency on feudal landlords, exploit rural workers. In two centuries, sugar passed fro(cid:373) the rich people"s lu(cid:454)ur(cid:455) to the poor people"s necessity. The happy meal in the us: people in the united states consume, on average, about 60 pounds of sugar a year. In 1535 when disembarked the coast of pernambuco-sugar was worth pound for pound, almost as much as gold on european markets. In 15 years, the colonial lord established 5 sugar plantation mills (engenho: by 1630 there were 144 sugar plantations. The colonial sugar mills: small animal powered mills to crush the cane, the labor shortage was acute: from indigenous people to african slave, sugar displace grazing and cotton production.
