Sugar and the Expansion of the Early Modern World-Economy: Commodity Frontiers, Ecological Transformation, and Industrialization
Author(s)
Moore, Jason W.
Abstract
The ecologically destructive nature of capitalism was operative from the very beginning of the modern world-system and was a major force in the geographic expansion of the system. The case of the “sugar frontier” demonstrates that early modern capitalism was both highly industrial and profoundly destructive of the natural environment. The ecological devastation caused by sugar cultivation and processing, in combination with booming European demand, was a major force behind the geographic expansion of the world-economy in the early modern period. The article shows the interconnections between the sugar frontier, the world-economy, and such socioecological issues as deforestation, soil erosion, livestock overpopulation, delocalization of food supply, hydraulic systems, worker health and safety, monocultures, species extinction, and climate change.
