Question ?To what extent was the rise in sugar consumption in eighteenth and nineteenth century Europe an expression of globalization? Response Due to there being many variations in definition of globalization, some historians believing there are indeed too many (Jones 2010, 2), this essay will use the definition given in Osterhammel and Petersson’s ‘Globalization. A short history’; “Globalization is the development, concentration and increasing importance of worldwide integration”. (Osterhammel and Petersson 2005, 26) By using the integral characteristics of this statement, this essay will look at the consumption of sugar, and the sugar trade in 18th and 19th century Europe, and come to a conclusion on whether it was globalization or a mere pre-history to globalization. Firstly, the idea of development will be explored, looking at Britain’s increasing demand for sugar and the impact this had on the trade routes, and also the increasing importance of the industrial revolution. This will then be applied to the concepts of acceleration and “interconnectedness” which Eriksen describes as key factors of globalization. Then concentration will be explored, using the intensification and extensification of sugar as examples, looking at the increasing importance of sugar and tea as a part of everyday life and national identity. Finally, considering the increased importance of worldwide networks through the sugar trade as a whole, and looking at the idea if “integration”, and whether sugar (and all interconnecting trades) was an example of globalization or merely the pre-history leading to a modern globalized world. The organization of the economy in 17th and 18th century was based on the production of food to be consumed by the domestic market; a food economy. Sheridan (1974) suggests that it was predictable that Europe expand towards the tropics, as Europe was relatively self-sufficient, and thus the demand was for “exotic foods, luxury fabrics, jewels and rare metals”. (Sheridan, 1974, 97) Some of these products only required trade with the local people, whereas others, such as sugar and tobacco required European money, manual labour, managerial skills and a plantation setting. Demand for sugar and tobacco was possibly the biggest cause for European expansion and the colonisation of the tropics. This is a perfect example of Eriksen’s (2007, 49) “acceleration”, as consumer demand caused capitalist expansion which in turn accommodated the acceleration of production and consumption. It is impossible to talk about the production and consumption of sugar without remarking on the industrial revolution. Not only was the production of sugar intensified as Norbert Rillieux’s sugar processing evaporator saved time and money, but the invention of the steam ship made the transport of sugar faster and more reliable than ever before. The industrial revolution made the world seem smaller, as the steam ship “halved the time it took to travel from London to Bombay” (Osterhammel and Petersson 2003, 67) and also, through the increase in inland canals and railways, made sugar vastly more accessible. Whereas once the travel costs would have removed sugar from the poorer-rural population’s diet, now it was being transported cheaply and efficiency, thus reducing in price. (Sheridan, 1974, 26) Although it can hardly be compared to the speed of the 21st century, in which people and goods can circumnavigate the world within half a day, the drastic increase in speed due to the industrial revolution cannot be underestimated. Not only did it make Europe seem smaller, but vast swathes of ocean were crossed in record time. Suddenly the Americas