Beginning of Essay
: The Place of Sugar in Modern History Some of the most brilliant minds have made many unorthodox suggestions. This is the case with Sidney Mintz’s thesis in : The Place of Modern History. Mintz’s suggestions that industrial capitalism originated in the Caribb ....

Middle of Essay
.... of labor by age, gender, and condition into crews, shifts and ‘gangs,’ together with the stress upon punctuality and discipline, are features associated more with industry than agriculture – at least in the sixteenth century” (Mintz 47). Plantations required a “combination farmer-manufacturer”. Workers on plantations worked assiduously with a definite sense of time. They worked continuous shifts, resting only form Saturday to Monday morning. Mintz goes on to explain that “as the production of sugar became significant economically, so that it could affect political and military (as well as economic) decisions, its consumption by the powe ....