ESSAY

It is crucial to examine three economic effects of changeover

from tobacco to sugar. Firstly, due to this changeover there was
a demand for sugar to sweeten these beverages, as honey
which was used became expensive. Secondly, land price
began increasing rapidly. Lastly, through the transatlantic
voyage, the West Indies became more accessible to the
European markets.
  During the seventeenth century, tea and coffee became
popular in Europe. Due to this there was a demand for sugar to
sweeten these beverages, as honey which was used became
expensive. They also needed sugar to preserve fruits and jams.
Due to the demand for tobacco in England, Virginia was able to
meet this demand, thus the demand for West Indian tobacco
decreased as it was of an inferior quality compared with
tobacco from Virginia. This caused a changeover from tobacco
to sugar in the West Indies.
Furthermore, Landowners wanted bigger lands to grow their
sugarcane, because Sugar could only be grown on
economically large estates so the landholdings increased in
size and small landholding were grouped together to make a
large estate. Previously tobacco and the other cash crops such
as corn were produced by small planters on relatively small
plots of land between five and thirty acres, hence unlike sugar
which had 150 acres. This demand caused an economic
increase in lands.
Finally, the West Indies became more accessible to the
European markets, because sugar was light which made it
easy to transport in the small ships used during the
seventeenth century, and The West Indies possessed the ideal
climate for growing sugarcane. They also had the right soil
which was easily drained to cultivate the crop, therefore the
West Indies could meet Europe’s demand.
In conclusion, due to this there was a demand for sugar to
sweeten these beverages, as honey which was used became
expensive. Furthermore, Sugar could only be grown on
economically large estates so the landholdings increased in
size and small landholding were grouped together to make a
large estate. Lastly, the West Indies became more accessible
to the European markets.