Manuscript Number : SHISRRJ124726

Saccharum officinarum (Sweet Salt) – Invention to Domestication

Authors(2) :-Rajesh Kumar Mishra, Rekha Agarwal

Sugarcane, or Saccharum officinarum is thought to have been first domesticated by the Papuans in around 8000 BCE. This ancient civilisation was thought to have simply chewed the cane raw. Sugar was spread and cultivated by the Austronesian peoples across Island South East Asia, before reaching China and India around 3000 BCE. The geographical location of sugar cane growing changed several times over the course of 3,500 years. It began in India and Persia, then spread along the Mediterranean coast to the islands off Africa’s coast, and then to the Americas before moving back across the world to Indonesia. In order to produce sugar, a new type of agriculture was developed. This was called the Plantation System, in which colonists planted large areas of single crops. These crops could be shipped far and wide, and could be sold at a good price in Europe. In order to increase productivity and profitability, slaves (or indentured servants) were imported to take care of the labor intensive crops. The first crops grown in the Plantation System were sugar cane, but many other crops followed, including coffee and cotton, cocoa and tobacco, tea and rubber, and eventually oil palm.

Authors and Affiliations

Rajesh Kumar Mishra
ICFRE-Tropical Forest Research Institute, P.O. RFRC, Mandla Road, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India
Rekha Agarwal
Government Science College, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India

Tobacco, Tea, Rubber, Oil Palm, Saccharum officinarum, BCE

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Publication Details

Published in : Volume 7 | Issue 2 | March-April 2024
Date of Publication : 2024-04-30
License:  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Page(s) : 217-224
Manuscript Number : SHISRRJ124726
Publisher : Shauryam Research Institute

ISSN : 2581-6306

Cite This Article :

Rajesh Kumar Mishra, Rekha Agarwal, "Saccharum officinarum (Sweet Salt) – Invention to Domestication ", Shodhshauryam, International Scientific Refereed Research Journal (SHISRRJ), ISSN : 2581-6306, Volume 7, Issue 2, pp.217-224, March-April.2024
URL : https://shisrrj.com/SHISRRJ124726

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