Final answer:
Sugar was a highly profitable commodity from 1450 to 1750, making substantial wealth for European merchants, shipbuilders, bankers, and plantation owners while causing immense suffering for the enslaved Africans who worked on the plantations.
Step-by-step explanation:
During the period from 1450 to 1750, sugar was indeed a highly profitable commodity. The cultivation of sugar cane, particularly in the Atlantic islands, Brazil, and the Caribbean, was labor-intensive, requiring a large labor force. This demand for labor was met with the forced enslavement and transportation of Africans to work on these plantations. The production of sugar not only generated substantial wealth for European merchants, shipbuilders, bankers, and plantation owners but also became an essential element in the diet of Europeans, further increasing its economic importance.
The vast profits from sugar cultivation were reinvested in numerous industries, enabled the establishment of grand mansions and luxury goods, and even influenced British political decisions. However, despite the great wealth generated by sugar production, the profits were not shared with the enslaved Africans or the local populations where sugar was produced, who suffered immensely under brutal conditions.
Over time, as the appetite for sugar grew, the Atlantic slave trade escalated. Between 1650 and 1700, the export of sugar from Barbados to England had doubled, demonstrating the booming demand. With the increasing demand for sugar came an increase in the demand for enslaved labor, which had catastrophic human consequences but resulted in enormous economic growth for those in control of the trade.