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Jan 1, 1099
First Record of Sugar in England
Sugar was first discovered by western Europeans as result of the Crusades in the 11th Century AD. As they returned to England, the Crusaders refered to how wonderful this "new spice" was in written records. In 1099 AD, sugar was first recorded in England. -
Jan 1, 1450
Island of Medeira Becomes the Leading Sugar Producer for Europe
After the Portugese conquer the Madeira Islands in the 1420's, they became the leading sugar cane producers in the Canary Islands by 1450. -
Jan 1, 1493
Columbus Brings a Sugar Cane Plant to Hispanola
In the the 1400's, Spanish and Portuguese sailors were traveling the coast of Africa, searching for a route to Asia. Through their search for an alternative route, they conquered the Canary Islands and the Azores and began building sugar plantations on the islands, with many of them using slave labor. -
Jan 1, 1527
Earliest Records of Sugar Production in Jamaica
Sugar production is rapidly expanding throughout the Caribbean region at this time, with the mills almost exclusivly worked by African slaves. Jamaica later abecomes a major sugar producing region of the British Empire. -
Code Noir Makes Slavery Legal in the French Sugar Colonies
The Code Noir of 1685 established the basic legal principles of French Carribean slave society, but the colonial government left control of the slave population to individual masters. While the Code Noir stated that ex-slaves were equal to other colonists, racial prejudice was still an important means of social control. -
Saint Dominique
Saint Dominique, on the French side of Hispanola, becomes the world's richest sugar colony. -
Number of Slaves Arriving in French Territories in 1790
54,403: Slavery in French Territory is at its peak in 1790. After 1790, slavery begins its decline to the point it is prohibited in 1794. -
Movements Toward the End of Slavery in French Territories
Children of free parents in French sugar colonies are granted the full rights of French citizens, no matter their race/ origin. Slavery is also abolished within the borders of France. -
Slavery is Abolished in Saint Dominique
Saint Dominique, on the French side of Hispanola, was at one time the world's richest sugar colony. -
Molasses Act
In 1793, the British places a tax on sugar products not from English Islands, which the colonists choose to ignore. -
Slavery Abolished in all French Sugar Colonies
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Number of Slaves Arriving in French Territories in 1700
326: Slavery in all French Territory has been abolished by this date, marking the sharp decline from over 50,000 slaves arriving five years ago to just under 500 arriving in 1794. -
Louisiana Becomes a Sugar State
In the 1800s, Sugar masters from Haiti begin to arrive in Louisiana, making Louisiana a sugar state. -
Mapoleon Gains Control of the Louisiana Territory
Napoleon gains control of the Louisiana Territory, the center of North America from Spain with plans to use it to feed and supply his sugar lands. -
The English Make the Slave Trade Illegal
