Scientists have been arguing about the unconditional benefits or undoubted harm of sugar to human health. They say that this product is almost poisonous, they say that it is a panacea for all diseases (by the way, they started to use it as a medicine). Either a sweet treat, then a white death. But we will not rush to extremes, because today we will not talk about that. What is the history of sugar, such a product we need? Find out where and when it appeared, learn from this article.
The millennial history of sugar in pictures
More than 5000 years ago, in ancient India , they learned to extract it from a plant - sugarcane. The soldiers of Macedon, having entered the land of India, drew attention to an unknown substance, solid, in the form of small crystals, of a sweet taste. It was raw sugar, the first of those described, with which the history of sugar began. Onesicritus, the Greek historian who accompanied the king on his campaigns, was very struck by the fact that honey gives cane, and without the help of bees, which was described in his report.
In India, sweet crystals obtained from cane juice by extraction were called saccara (literally, sand or pebbles). This root of the word also entered later in many languages of our planet. After all, look, everywhere sugar with various small variations is called almost the same! Such is the history of sugar, like words.
The origin of the reed
This plant was grown, probably, even during the primitive system, from the most ancient times. According to modern science, the birthplace of cane for making sugar is New Guinea. Further, he gradually settled on the islands, keeping his way to India and China, where he also remarkably took root and was cultivated. He came to Arab countries from India, and already before our era there he was grown there with the aim of obtaining a magical white crystal. The Persians were the first to learn how to make raw refined, by repeated cooking of the product. Europeans get acquainted with the plant and its derivative - sugar - from the same Arabs and equip reed plantations in Madeira and the Canaries. This was a very profitable venture. So, in England, for example, already in the 14th century for a pound of goodies they gave 44 pounds of money.
Caravans with sugar
More than two thousand years ago, the Persians began to carry sugar to Arabia, Egypt and the Mediterranean. According to Pliny, in those days, sugar is made in the form of small white (about the size of a nut) pieces and is used mainly in medicine. In solid form, the product was easier to transport over long distances. Its delivery by caravans through Central Asia begins, then to the ports of the Mediterranean, and from there to Greece and Rome.
Middle Ages and Renaissance
The history of sugar in the “gloomy” Middle Ages: this product was considered a medicine and was sold mainly in pharmacies. However, some historians argue that the healers acted rather as shopkeepers, selling sweets to wealthy citizens. Christian Europe underestimates this product, which is gradually beginning to spread in the royal courts and receptions. It is believed that the crusaders played a large role in the distribution of sugar in Europe. It was they who first discovered the sugar cane plantations in Palestine, Syria, for Europeans. Thanks to their participation, the reed settles in the south of Italy and France.
In the 15th century, production of processing raw materials from trade with India was born in Venice. Refined sugar takes on a cone-shaped shape and sets off on its further journey throughout Europe. Another capital of trade and product processing is Portuguese Lisbon.
Conquest of America and Europe
A sharp turn in sugar history is the conquest of the New World. Columbus in Santo Domingo planted Canary cane for the production of goodies. At the beginning of the 16th century, there are already more than twenty factories producing raw sugar and then processing it. Cortes brings reed to Mexico, and Mexican plantations are also becoming vast. The sweet product conquers Brazil, Peru, other countries that are also covered by sugar plantations. In Europe, this case is a little behind. Almost a century later, France and Portugal, Italy and Spain joined the plantation organization.
Trip around the world
At the beginning of the 19th century the first round-the-world journey of sugar took place! It lasted several thousand years. Starting from the Pacific Islands, sugar conquered all continents, now it is an international product by right.
History of sugar in Russia
The product first gets to Russia somewhere in the 12th century, but at first it doesn’t take root, it’s not, as they say, on the table. Overseas goods appear on the royal table in the 16th century, thanks to the development of the sea trade route through Arkhangelsk. The real history of sugar in Russia begins in the mid-17th century (tea and coffee were also in fashion at that time). The sweet product increases in deliveries from abroad, but even then remains inaccessible and quite expensive.
Tsar Peter tries to solve the problem by obliging one of the merchants to open and maintain a sugar factory at his own expense (even a decree was issued on this occasion). For some time, sugar imports cease, completely replaced by domestic production. But the pace of demand continues to grow, and already in the 18th century, manufacturers rack their brains in search of a new raw material base. Beet was preferred as a sugar-containing product. This vegetable successfully replaces the supplied reed in the field of production. Since then, imported sugar has been finally replaced by domestic. Such is the history of sugar - for children or for adults, all the same - the main thing is that this sweetness is an important and necessary product for all mankind, without which it is already difficult for us to do!