From the Forword:
Sugar has been the single most important producto emerging from the Caribbean in its 480-odd years of recorded history. From the time of the production of this crop for export in 1640 in Barbados the industry has bulked large in the economy of the various territories in which it was grown. Sugar has been the mainstay of a large number of islands such as Barbados, St. Kitts and Antigua and the leading sector for centuries in others such as Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico. It has been the cause of major demographic and social changes in the región. The “sugar revolution” of the 17th century saw the large-scale introduction of Africans into the Caribbean and the long centuries of African slavery. The period after 1834 witnessed a crisis in the industry and the consequent importation of large numbers of East Indian and other indentured labourers into British and French colonies, thus altering the racial balance in these areas.
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