skip to main content

How Sweet It Is: The Story of Sugar

25 minutes 38 seconds

Videos are generally available for preview to non-members as short clips. Limited full-length titles are also available. Log In to view the full length title.

Browse Full-length Non-member Titles

In 1493, Columbus planted sugar cane in Haiti. It eventually became one of the crops associated with Triangular Trade. The sugar plantations needed cheap labor to survive. This program shows how the ships sailed to West Africa with manufactured goods from Europe. They were traded for slaves, and the slaves were shipped to the West Indies. The profits from their sale bought sugar and other crops. For centuries, no other commodity on the world market wielded as much political influence. Sugar affected almost every aspect of government policy, from wages to wars, in much the same way as oil does today.

Media Details

Runtime: 25 minutes 38 seconds

Request a DVD
Members Only - Apply Now
Overhead view of a a large assembly line with tan boxes being moved along conveyor belts. Several people with white hard hats and uniforms are working in various stations. Caption. For the milk they were producing on their farms.
What We Eat
Season 0 / Ep 1
25 minutes 23 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Man with white hair and a beard wearing a red shirt and navy jacket talks while standing on the deck of a wooden ship. Several brown ropes and open ocean are in the background. Caption. By the early fifteen hundreds, there were shops that sold coffee.
What We Eat
Season 0 / Ep 2
25 minutes 35 seconds
Grade Level: 9 - 12
Black and white photo of several people wearing white uniforms using tools to work in a field with waist-high plants. Caption. So as they came and as the people were brought.
What We Eat
Season 0 / Ep 5
24 minutes 9 seconds
Grade Level: 7 - 12
Closeup of red drawers with gold, round handles in a row. One in the bottom center has a pink and gold label that reads, "S. Santon." Caption. Every medicine used during the Black Plague contained sugar.
What We Eat
Season 0 / Ep 6
25 minutes 38 seconds
Grade Level: 9 - 12
Woman with gray hair wearing a green shirt talking. White text on bottom of screen reads, "Barbara Ketcham Wheaton. Culinary historian, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute of Harvard University." Caption. Due to political disruption in Asia.
What We Eat
Season 0 / Ep 7
24 minutes 2 seconds
Grade Level: 9 - 12
Corner of Wall Street in dim light with 2 N, Y, P, D squad cars parked at the corner while several people in suits walk by in the background. Several American flags are displayed on a building on the right. Caption. But things are different now.
What We Eat
Season 0 / Ep 11
24 minutes
Grade Level: 9 - 12

Viewer Comments