SUGAR IN THE CRUSADES AND ITS JOURNEY TO THE WEST

Abstract

We call the years 1095-1291 as “The Age of Crusaders”, and this process was the meeting of civilizations as well as hostilities. The Crusaders, who did not know much about the Islamic civilization, started to get to know them with the first contacts. In the meantime, they began to meet new and unfamiliar flavors such as candy. The Crusaders, who took over the sugar factories in the cities they captured in Syria, started to export the sugar they produced from here to Europe as well as consuming them themselves. While Italian merchants started to earn a lot of money from this business, Europeans who sweetened with honey began to get used to this new product. After that, sugar began to be transported to the West by ships, and the first steps of exploitation began to be taken. Sugar production centers of the former Byzantine Empire, such as Cyprus Island in 1191 and Rhodes in 1310, were included in the ships loaded with sugar from ports such as Akkâ, Tyre and Beirut. From this work, of course, the Venetians and the knightly orders started to increase their wealth. During this process, the captives captured in the wars started to work in the sugar cane fields and showed up in the collection of the product. This situation showed itself more in America, which is called the New World, in the later stages of the expeditions, and the slaves taken from Africa became the newly oppressed and assimilated of this continent. The seeds of this process were planted in Syria and Palestine by 1098.