The White Gold

Until around the 1700s sugar was reserve for the rich society and used for both sweeten food but also as medicine. Sugar at this time was very expensive and called “The White Gold”.

Sugar canes

The sugar canes that were cultivated was several meters high and felled with machetes. The canes needed warm tropic climate and a lot of water which made St. Croix perfect for sugar production (Dansukker, 2017).

Sugar mills

Both the animal mill and the windmill had the same machinery. The sugar canes was grinded between the rollers and the juice sent to the fabric. The fabric was connected the plantation and the sugar juice was sent from the sugar mills directly to the fabric. At the fabric the sugar was crystallized and then shipped to Denmark (Den Vestindiske Arv, 2017).

Sugar cane and sugar beets

In connection to the Napoleonic War (1803 - 1815) there was a need to find a substitution for the imported sugar the Virgin Islands. It was in this context that sugar beets got discovered. At that time the sugar content in the beets was not profitable. Later when the sugar content reached the level of the sugar canes and the slaves were emancipated it was no longer profitable to import sugar from the colony. The Virgin Islands were no longer economically profitable (Dansukker, 2017),

Family working in the field, St. Croix http://www.kb.dk/da/nb/tema/dvi/index.html