Refining Sugar : French Circulations of Goods and Individuals in the Atlantic World from the 16th Century

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Sal, Bacalhau e Açúcar : Trade, Mobility, Circular Navigation and Foodways in the Atlantic World", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The French sugar activity, trade and production, is necessarily maritime because of the climate required for the cultivation of cane. It thus participates, from the 16th century, in the development of the atlantic then transatlantic economy.

Having the tools necessary for the transformation of sugars will therefore be a priority, greatly increased by the agricultural development of new american colonies and the establishment of refineries along french hydrographic axes. These flows of goods - elements of grinding mills, boilers, refining ceramics, sugar-bleaching clays, special packaging papers - were superimposed on technological transfers, concerning craftsmen having technical and empirical knowledge and skills for refining or for specific pottery making.

The cross-checking of archaeological, archaeometric and archival works sheds light on these circulations, among maritime networks of different scales and where coastal shipping in the carribean as along the european atlantic coast highlights the diversity and evolving complexity of supplies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023   •
• Sal, Bacalhau e Açúcar : Trade, Mobility, Circular Navigation and Foodways in the Atlantic World

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow