Sugar Revolution
Storyboard Text
- Concentration on Tobacco Cultivation
- Tobacco is easy to cultivate. A large labour force isn't needed so it's cheap if you want to hire help and you don't need large plots of land either. And transporting it is easy because it's not bulky.
- It's cheap to produce and I make good profit from my sales.
- Everybody is smoking tobacco now so many people will buy it. Plus it has many healing properties so it's really good for us.
- Changeover from Tobacco to Sugar
- But if there's so many of us trading the same crop, how shall we make a proper profit!? The more available tobacco is, the less value it will have!
- I'm waiting on my tobacco shipment as well! I'm thrilled to see how much I'll profit from this batch.
- Another shipment of my tobacco supply should be arriving today and I can smell the money already!
- Changeover from Tobacco to Sugar
- I'm afraid I can't, love. The honey is almost done and you know how expensive it is. I'm not sure how much more we can afford.
- Oh dear. Hopefully, someone will find a cheaper alternative soon.
- Honey, can you fetch me a cup of tea, please?
- Tobacco was an easy crop to cultivate, didn't require huge plots of land or a large labour force and was easy to transport. Smoking tobacco had also become habitual in Europe so it was always high in demand which made it extremely profitable to planters. Tobacco soon became the foundation of the colonies' economies as it was used to pay local taxes and purchase manufactured goods from England.
- Role of the Dutch in the Changeover
- We need a new crop to cultivate for new and better profit but which one!? We only know how to produce and trade tobacco!
- As knowledge of tobacco's incredible worth spread, the number of planters rose. This lead to a heavy increase in the crop's production which caused oversaturation in the market. This subsequently made the monetary worth of tobacco decrease which meant a new crop would be needed for any type of profit to be made.
- Negative Social Impact
- During this time. tea and coffee were introduced to the Europeans and for the purpose of sweetening, a cheaper alternative to honey was wanted. With sugar being a by-product of sugarcane and cheaper than honey, it would have high sales and ultimately result in a great profit which would be good for planters and the economy.
- Positive Economic Impact
- Before the changeover, Dutch traders realized the worth of planting sugarcane so they began making investments in the crop. When the other nations needed a new crop to trade, the Dutch introduced them to sugarcane. They taught them how to cultivate it and supplied them with slaves and knowledge in the trade. When the planters' produce was ready, the Dutch would buy them and resell to gain a profit.
- Perhaps we can assist you. We think sugarcane would be a great alternative as we're currently profiting from our investments in the crop.
- We'll teach you how to cultivate it and supply you with credit so you can get all the equipment and slaves from West Africa.
- Due to the labour requirements of planting sugarcane, Europeans began enslaving West Africans and transporting them to the West Indies. The large amounts of slaves being used and transported on the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade led to slavery becoming a major issue.
- GET THEM TO THE SHIP QUICKLY!!!
- Pick up the pace or we'll whip you!
- Following the changeover, sugarcane became high in demand. This lead to it becoming the most profitable crop and being referred to as the "king" crop.
- ALL HAIL KING SUGARCANE!!!
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