Britain and the CaribbeanIndustrial development in sugar production
In the 17th and 18th centuries enslaved people were moved from Africa to the West Indies to work on sugar plantations. This industry and trade made British ports and merchants involved very wealthy.
There was a need for industrial development in sugar production. Low level of technology meant many workers (in the form of enslaved people) were needed. The demand for sugar was also rising.
Plantation owners
In the 1740s, Jamaica and Saint-Domingue (Haiti) increased production by using an irrigation system.
Plantation owners looked for ways to increase their production:
They built reservoirs, diversion dams, levees, aqueducts and canals.
They used more manure to fertilise their crops.
They developed more advanced mills.
They used better types of sugar cane.
In 1768, a steam engine was first used to power a sugar mill in Jamaica.
