On Food and Cooking

major force and helped ease its introduction
into the southern American colonies and the
cotton plantations. According to one estimate,
fully two-thirds of the 20 million Africans
enslaved in the Americas worked on sugar
plantations. The intricate trade in sugar,
slaves, rum, and manufactured goods made
major ports out of the hitherto minor cities of
Bristol and Liverpool in England, and
Newport, Rhode Island. And the huge fortunes
made by plantation owners helped finance the
opening stages of the Industrial Revolution.
In the 18th century, just when it seemed at
its strongest, the West Indian sugar industry
began a rapid decline. The horrors of slavery
gave rise to abolition movements, especially
in Britain. Slaves staged revolts, and received
some support from the very countries that had
carried them to the plantations. One by one,
through the mid-19th century, European
countries outlawed slavery in the colonies.