Wealthy Europeans purchased sugar from local merchants, as the demand for sugar was so high that sugarcane farmers needed more labor. work to take care of crops. This demand caused the expansion of the slave trade, originating in Africa, bringing slaves to the Americas to work in sugar cane crops. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Sugar would prove to be the most important commodity on the Colombian Stock Exchange. In colonial times, sugar had the same economic value and importance as oil today. Although refined sugar was available throughout most of the Old World, the European climate made growing sugar cane virtually impossible. As an imported product, sugar was considered a luxury product that only the wealthy could afford. The European discovery and subsequent colonization of Madeira and the Canary Islands would be precedents for the New World. The plantations and colonial governments of these islands would be models for the sugar plantations of the Caribbean and the Americas. Sugar cane, native to Southeast Asia, was introduced to the Dominican Republic by Christopher Columbus in 1492. This new crop thrived in the tropical environment. Wealthy Europeans purchased imported sugar from local traders, but soon demand exceeded the producers' production capacities. European producers could not produce more sugar cane without more workers to work the crops. African slave traders provided slaves who were sent to America to tend the crops. The labor of African slaves was essential to the cultivation of sugar cane and the production of sugar. Slaves worked both in the sugar cane fields and in the boiler rooms and provided most of the extreme labor involved in the process. Of the nearly four million slaves brought to the Caribbean, almost all ended up working on sugar plantations.1 Living conditions for slaves were harsh and mortality rates were high, at all stages of the life of a slave. The greater the European demand for sugar, the more production was necessary. The more plantations they built, the more sugar they produced, the more slaves they acquired. Slaves imported from Africa marked the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade. African slaves were chosen because they were immune to the diseases that killed many Native Americans. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay Europeans grew rich off slave laborers. Sugar and slavery allowed Europe to accumulate wealth and power and ultimately paved the way for a new economic system, as well as European domination in the world. Wealthy Europeans, through their lack of sugar, unwittingly sparked the African slave trade throughout the Americas, including what is now the southern United States..