While researching my family tree, I discovered one person who encapsulates the good and the bad of doing genealogy. My 8th great-grandfather was a New England sea captain who had the interesting story of having his ship captured by pirates in 1717 while sailing from Barbados to Boston. I then looked further into it and found his testimony on his case to a council in Portsmith, NH, in which he told exactly what the pirates took. “Forty hogsheads of rum, several barrels of sugar, and a negro man.” All three were cargo on his ship- as the book’s author where I found this account pointed out, just about every New England sea captain helmed a slave ship at some point in his career in the 17th and 18th centuries. Slavery really is the ugly side of American history and pops up in unexpected places.
Sugar has been an ongoing issue for me, since childhood. I'm sure it's been a problem for my family long before that, though. I'm surprised to hear its origins! I always thought of sugar cane in the Caribbean, so that detail about India was a mind blown moment. Another happened at the end when the process of creating silverware was not only detailed (which I always enjoy hearing about) but demonstrated! I'm glad people are more aware of sugar's bittersweet truths - past and present.
I love Smarthistory and have learned so much from their videos. This is the first one that disappointed me. The narrative is disjointed, confusing, superficial. The triangle trade is a major aspect of American history. Telling this story through a work of art is a great idea, but you can do a better job than this.
Columbus brought the sugar on his second voyage, after he "discovered" America and confirmed it was not, in fact, India. If you don't believe me, it says so in the video at 0:30
