Sugar Handout

This handout is about the history and transformation of sugar in the world. In the very beginning of this reading, they stated that sugar once was considered a drug. This jumped out at me because today sugar is probably the farthest thing that would be considered a drug. And I just wonder how it can be considered a drug? The history of sugar started in South Asia when it was encountered by Greeks in India. During the Middle ages sugar became one of the most luxurious goods in the market. But why was it in such high demand if it was considered a drug? Sugar was grown as canes in hot moist places. It's production is very labor intesive and produced on a large scale. It was produced with the use of slaves. When I came across to the charts of slavery importation in order to produce the large sugar amounts struck me because of the such high numbers. Thousands and thousands of black slaves were imported tos different parts of the world to do the large scale production of sugar. Slavery conditions were harsh. Im very thankful for the events that helped fight slavery in previous history.