How Sugar Conquered The World

Undergraduate / Graduate

This class explores how and why an uncommon delicacy, originally cultivated in the Middle East as a medicinal, came to dominate global commodity markets and lead to revolutionary transformations in land use, labor, dietary habits, and consumer cultures. As one of the principal drivers of European colonization of the Americas from the seventeenth century onward, sugar created fortunes while also leaving an unparalleled path of destruction in its wake, as enslaved workers were mobilized to undertake the arduous work of growing and harvesting it. In order to populate sugar plantations, Europeans spurred a demographic revolution in the Americas, bringing millions of Africans to colonial shores to grow the crop. Prized for its flavor and dazzling color, sugar soon overtook not only all other sweeteners in popularity and prestige among elites but quickly became a cornerstone of the diets of everyday workers in industrializing Europe. In the 20th century, sugar would become one of the world's most traded items and a major source of calories for global populations. Taking a vertical approach to the study of sugar, this class will examine every facet of its production and consumption. We will explore its symbolic representations and chemical properties. A major focus will be on how sugar cultivation inspired a range of developments in agricultural labor and technology. Students will be asked to analyze a range of primary sources and work on both individual and group assignments.