A new publication that traces the intertwined histories of sugar and rum is the latest project from pan-Africanist and writer William Thomas (Tom) Dalgety.
“It is a book that speaks about politics and technology, as I have pointed out that it is money from sugar that built the [Demerara] Harbour Bridge. It is money from sugar that made us who we are,” Dalgety told Stabroek News in an interview.
Dalgety’s book, “Sugar and Rum 1640-1892 in Diaspora Africa” contends that rum was exported to Holland in 1763 from Berbice. It also posits that because cane needed a highly steady temperature and adequate rainfall, islanders who first benefited from the growth and production of sugar were Barbadians.
