A long and ancient history. The history of sugar began more than 3000 years ago. For many years, this history was dominated by cane sugar. Its rival, sugar beet, only enters our story from the 19th century onwards.

The 15th century and Venice

The 15th century marked a turning point in the three thousand year history of sugar. Venice gradually gained a monopoly in the trade of this brown gold, and spread it across Northern Europe via Bruges and Antwerp. The City of the Doges was the first to build a refinery.


The impertinent success of Venice excited much envy. At the same time, yields on the islands of the Mediterranean began to fall. Sugar cane is a demanding plant that quickly exhausts the soil. It needs new soil and a steep investment to finance the farming and processing of the sugar. The Genoese, Spanish, Portuguese and Flemish all invested.

The 16th century and the Portuguese

The Portuguese were be the first to benefit from this new expansion. From the second half of the 15th century, they established plantations and refineries in Madeira, an archipelago situated in the Atlantic, off the coast of Morocco. The merchants of Flanders and Italy established themselves and exported sugar to La Rochelle, Rouen, Genoa, Venice, Bruges and England. They repeated the experience on the archipelago of Sao Tomé-et-Principe, in the Gulf of Guinea, off the coast of Gabon. The first leap towards the Americas had been made...

Excellent navigators, the Portuguese eagerly set out on voyages of discovery. Although the Conquistadors failed to find gold or spices, they did score a success with sugar cane. Sugar quickly came to dominate international trade. The slave trade also developed as a consequence.


The Portuguese transferred technology and equipment from Madeira to Brazil from the beginning of the 16th century. They remained masters of the game until 1630. The English and French then took the lead with plantations in the West Indies.

The 18th century, the French century

At the beginning of the 17th century, the French West Indies were settlements. The first sugar cane plantations were established in 1643, after the failure of the tobacco crop. Very soon, sugar plantations were set up in Martinique, Guadeloupe and Santo Domingo.


Back in mainland France, refineries flourished under the patronage of Colbert in Bordeaux and Nantes, as well as Marseille, Rouen and La Rochelle. They initially processed raw sugar from the Canaries, Madeira and Brazil, expanding as more plantations were established on islands in the New World.

The Century of the Enlightenment was the century of French domination. Sugar became a key aspect of the economy and, therefore, of European policy. Control over the sugar trade was often a pretext for war, particularly with England. After the Seven Years War (1756-1763) for example, France did not hesitate to give up Canada to the English rather than lose the “sugar islands”.