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 Portuguese, 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 colony to the Dutch 
by the treaty of Breda (67), but it was not wntil 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 been settled for some time before 1630, 
but for a considerable period it had produced only indigo, ginger, cot- 
ton, and ‘‘ bad tobaceco,’’? 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 seale of surprising 
pomp and luxury. In 1661 King Charles II created thirteen baronets 
from among these planters, none of whom 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 
Enelish shared with the French), Nevis, Montserrat, Antigua, and 
lastly, after its capture from the Spanish im 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. HEnglsh sugars undersold those of 
