29 - The Triangle Trade Route

The profit from the sugar islands of the Caribbean financed the British industrial revolution. A “triangle trade route” developed, in which ships carrying sugar or cotton and other raw materials from the New World brought these back to England, where they were sold at a profit, processed by manufacturers and sold again at a greater profit. Manufactured goods were then loaded onto these same ships and traded along the African coast for slaves. The slaves were transported to the Caribbean, sold (realizing another profit) the ships were once more loaded up with sugar and agricultural products, returned to England and so on.

Africa and the Caribbean islands provided the labor and the raw materials for this trade. But, of course, it was the British who retained the profits. And already we see two very different kinds of national economies evolving – one based on manufacturing and the other based on commodity production.

Then in the mid-19th century, the British sugar trade came under stiff competition from India, Brazil, and the Spanish islands. As a result, plantation owners could no longer afford to maintain large slave holdings. So in 1834, slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire. This meant plantation owners were no longer responsible for feeding or maintaining their former slaves, who now had to seek wage employment on these same plantations or work small farms on marginal land. The best farmlands, naturally, remained under the control of Europeans.

The economy of the Caribbean islands remains primarily agricultural even today, although light manufacturing, mining, and petroleum are becoming stronger. Ironically, not one of the islands is self-sufficient in food production. Most manufactured goods, of course, have to be imported.

That’s the legacy of colonialism in the Caribbean.

Earlier in this series of reflections, I had suggested that one of the primary characteristics of developing countries is their lack of control over their own sovereignty. Colonies, of course, have no sovereignty at all. Colonized areas were not developed to meet even the basic needs of the people who lived there. Rather, like Crusoe’s Friday, they were developed to be “useful, handy, and helpful” for the colonial powers: to provide raw materials, food, and a profit for their colonial masters.

Of course, eventually all of these territories achieved independence. But even after official independence, structures were left in place by the former colonial powers which determined the course of the economic development of the newly independent countries.

The history of each nation is unique, but we have already seen that some common patterns exist. The first is that most of these countries were controlled by external powers. The second is that the resources of these nations were developed not to meet the needs of the local population but to service the occupying power. Colonies were developed to supply the commodities needed by countries whose economies were based on manufacturing. And even after gaining independence, the economies of most developing countries remained based in commodity production.

For many years in the Dominican Republic, that commodity was sugar – although it hadn’t always been.