The world we see today is different from what it was in the past. The phenomenon of continental drift, where continents were once linked, has occurred millions of year ago. At one time, North and South America were connected to Eurasia, Africa. This transition caused many changes such as divergent evolutionary. The west had things that the east continents did not, and vice-versa. The Europeans eventually crossed the Atlantic Ocean to reach American soil. Because the New World had more to offer than the Old World, and because the Old World offered more to the New World, the Columbian Exchange was born.
We have many items that we use daily because of Columbian Exchange. But, we often forget to look at the history of those products. Sugar, an extremely important product that is used every day with a great history, is another. Sugar is used in many ways: in baking, sweetened iced teas, and in body scrubs. The positive effects of sugar may seem obvious to us, but some people aren’t convinced. Greek conquerors in northwestern India discovered sugar for the first time in the fourth-century B.C.E. The following four factors are crucial to sugarcane production: sugar canes flourish in hot and humid environments; sugar canes require a lot more labor than is required year round; sugar canes must be produced on large scales; sugar canes must be an industrial enterprise. Sugar was not available to everyone at first. Queen Elizabeth, for example, was the first to enjoy sugary foods. But, her tooth decay became a problem. This was an example of sugar being unhealthy.
Source 1 was our first source. It spoke of Dr. Willis. He believed that sugar consumption is linked to declining health. We now have source 3. This source was a request from a member to determine the taxes England should apply to sugar. The government became a target because of the increase in sugar consumption. According to that source, tax increases would cause more harm than good. Source 4, another source that opposed sugar production, stated that America was depopulated because of the land required to produce sugar.
Everything has its pros and cons. Sugar production is an excellent example. It is difficult to imagine the world without sugar.
