Horse Raising in Colonial New England 901 



this export trade, it is necessary in any further treatment of the subject 

 to consider in some detail the rise and development of the sugar industry 

 itself. 



RISE OF THE SUGAR INDUSTRY IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES 



At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Europe was being sup- 

 plied with sugar mainly by the Portu<-»-uese, from Madeira and, more 

 especially, from their settlements on the mainland of South America, 

 in Brazil. The English also had probably produced some sugar in 

 South America, from Surinam, before ceding that colonj^ to the Dutch 

 by the treaty of Breda (67), but it was not until they had established 

 a settlement in Barbados, one of the Windward Islands, that they began 

 to be serious competitors of the Portuguese. 



The colony in Barbados had'^een settled for some time before 1630, 

 but for a considerable period it had produced only indigo, ginger, cot- 

 ton, and " bad tobacco," which brought in but moderate returns. 

 Sugar culture was introduced in or about the year 1642, and by 1650 

 the planters had grown proficient in its production and were shipping 

 it to England in considerable quantities (68). The new industry met 

 with remarkable success and within a few years the island had become 

 very prosperous; lands had increased greatly in value, and the planters 

 had amassed great wealth and were found living on a scale of surprising 

 pomp and luxury. In 1661 King Charles II created thirteen baronets 

 from among these planters, none of Avhom are said to have had an annual 

 income of less than £1000 and some of whom had more than £10,000 

 a year. In the same year the trade of the island is estimated to have 

 supported more than four hundred ships and the value of the exports 

 is placed as high as £300,000 (69). 



The great success of Barbados stimulated the growing of sugar on the 

 other islands of the British West Indies. St. Christopher (which the 

 English share:! with the French), Nevis, Montserrat, Antigua, and 

 lastly, after its capture from the Spanish in 1655, Jamaica, all came 

 into the market with sugars and the trade grew at a rapid rate. The 

 Navigation Acts, confining this commerce to British bottoms, soon made 

 London the chief sugar mart of the world, whence the product was 

 re-exported by British merchants. English sugars undersold those of 



