The sugar cane industry: an historical geography from its origins to 1914

Abstract

Traces the geography of the sugar can industry, one of the world's most important cash crops and oldest industries, from its origins to 1914. It describes the spread of the industry from India to the Mediterranean in the medieval period, across to the Americas in the early years of European colonisation, and its subsequent diffusion to most parts of the tropics. The volume examines changes in agricultural techniques, the significance of improvements in milling and manufacturing, and the role of the industry through its demands for labour in forming the multicultural societies of the tropical world. -J.Sheail