Problems facing sugar planters in the British colony of Jamaica during the period 1850-1900, and the solutions used to solve them.

THE PROBLEMS ------------- The islands of the British West Indies saw foreign competition from the slave grown sugar of Louisiana and Cuba. However, by the 1860's, due to a loan from the British government, Trinidad, Antigua, Barbados, British Guiana and St. Kitts all survived the equalization crisis. The sugar industry in Jamaica, on the other hand, continued to deteriorate. Jamaica's figures show a sugar industry, which failed to survive. Below is proof of this failure …

…ands to search for new crops. Also, British planters tried to mechanize in order to replace the slave labor that was lost with the advent of emancipation. Unfortunately, they lacked the necessary time and capital to afford this drastic change. In the 1860's, the British government gave a loan to a few of their island colonies to alleviate the equalization crisis. This was to assist them in increasing their sugar production rate. (c) Petra Montague-Sylvester