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Sugar was not one consumer good among others. Compulsive demand for sugar brought into existence a worldwide system of production and consumption that penetrated the daily lives of ordinary men and women.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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The mass market for sugar was stimulated by the expansion of the supply of cocoa, coffee, and tea, all drinks that mix well with sugar to form addictive concoctions.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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Sugar production spread into the Mediterranean. Driven by aristocratic demand, and with sugar increasingly consumed as a food rather than a drug, the sugar market was transformed in the period after the Black Death.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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Honey was the dominant sweetener, but it was slow and laborious to produce, and therefore scarce and dear. Though salts and spices had circulated from time immemorial, sweetness was not for sale.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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Humans are primates evolved over millions of years to crave the sweetness and calories found in mother's milk and forest fruits. Our ancestors domesticated a grass whose fibers trigger a surge of dopamine in our primate brains.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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New powers arose, fueled by demand for European imports like cloth, alcohol, and, especially, iron.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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Early expansion along the west coast of Africa was motivated by the demand for spices and gold and fired by dreams of bypassing the Ottoman behemoth that had come to loom over the Mediterranean.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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Tropical groceries became the greater source of wealth. Sugar, known as "white gold," was pivotal.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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The crowded ships were cluttered with casks and vessels full of fresh water for the long voyage.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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These two extremes were really the polar ends of a spectrum that spanned from the sugar islands of the Caribbean to the plantation worlds of rice in the Low Country and tobacco in tidewater Virginia, to the land of mostly free farmers that lay north of Maryland.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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These involuntary migrants were destined for sale in Barbados, an English possession in the first, feverish throes of its transformation into a slave-based society dedicated to the production of sugar.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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Columbus himself then instituted a system of forced labor and tribute, requiring payment in gold, cotton, or spices.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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Even without iron technology and draught animals, the calorie-rich crops of corn, manioc, and potatoes supported a large population.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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Meanwhile, psychotropic commodities like sugar, tobacco, and coffee stimulated markets.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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The diffusion of other New World crops radically altered the cuisine of the Old World. It is hard to imagine a menu without tomatoes, chili peppers, peanuts, eggplants, squash, and other American complements to the ordinary diet.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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The adoption of corn, potatoes and cassava in Europe, Africa, and Asia had long-term demographic effects, from Ireland to China to the lands ringing the Gulf of Guinea.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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By contrast, the Americas were blessed with some exceptionally efficient calorie-producers: corn (maize), potatoes, cassava, and sweet potatoes. These crops became the basis of complex civilizations and dense populations in the New World, especially in the American tropics, which lacked many of the ferocious pathogens that limited demographic expansion in the Old World tropics. The grains and tubers molded by generations of indigenous American farmers to suit human tastes and needs have come to feed much of the earth's population.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper