British Imperialism and its Legacies: Saccharum sp. (Sugarcane)
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of plants from other countries. Saccharum is a tall growing genus of the grass family, typically found in tropical or sub-tropical locations. There are a number of species, but the genus is most well known for sugarcane, which accounts for most of the sugar produced globally; several species and hybrids are involved. The stems (canes) yield very high volumes of sugar which is extracted after harvesting by various milling processes, and the sugar is then refined by chemical treatments to create the granular sugar that is used as a drinks sweetener and in confectionery. In recent times its negative impact on diet, health, and dental care has become increasingly recognised, and its cultivation is strongly linked to human exploitation and enslavement.
The specimen seen below, collected from Luzon in the Philippines came to Glasgow Museums with the collection donated by the Philosophical Society of Glasgow in 1882. Hugh Cuming (1791–1865) was an English collector who, having made money in Chile, was able to self-fund voyages to the Pacific collecting shells and botanical specimens. In the late 1830s he spent four years in the Philippines, from where this specimen originates. He is thought to have collected over 130,000 specimens of dried plants during his lifetime, as well as many thousands of shells and other animals, and is considered to have been the most prolific individual collector at the time The specimen was sent to George Arnott Walker Arnott (1799–1868), the professor of botany at Glasgow University, who published many names of plants from Asia new to science around this time.
Commercial sugarcane is thought to have been first grown in Papua New Guinea and other islands in the area during pre-historic times, spreading to nearby islands and to mainland Asia over 2,000 years ago; it was even known to the Persians and Greeks. Muslim traders and merchants ensured it soon reached European countries, and the Spanish introduced it to the ‘New World’ in the late 1400s. In the ensuing colonial times sugar plantations became lucrative, exploiting enslaved people from Africa. Following the abolition of slavery in 1833, British planters started to exploit indentured labour, chiefly from India, China and southeast Asia, a practice that became widespread on plantations across the tropics. Conditions for both enslaved and indentured people were very poor, and they were forced to work in high temperatures outdoors or in dangerous milling factories. Conditions remain poor today, with ill health caused by heat stress and working conditions, and the use of both child and forced labour documented in many countries. The situation is exacerbated by the increasing demand for sugarcane as a biofuel.
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