‘Sugar helped rise of capitalist economy,’ says Ulbe Bosma, author of The World of Sugar: How the Sweet Stuff Transformed Our Politics, Health, and Environment over 2000 Years

Since the 17th century sugar has dominated the world of western commerce. Once only affordable for the rich, it is now one of the most ubiquitous products, present in most things we consume. For long, sugar production was dependent on the punishing labour of millions transported from Africa and enslaved to toil in brutal conditions in sugarcane plantations in the Caribbean and the Americas. Published shortly before Dutch King Willem-Alexander apologised for his kingdom’s role in the slave trade, Ulbe Bosma’s book, The World of Sugar: How the Sweet Stuff Transformed Our Politics, Health, And Environment Over 2000 Years, is a global history of sugar from its early origins in India and highlights Asia’s crucial role in shaping the world of sugar. Excerpts from an interview.

Ulbe Bosma (Source: Special arrangement)