Sugar plantations in Hawaii - wikipedia Sugar plantations in Hawaii Sugarcane was introduced to Hawaii by its first inhabitants and was observed by Captain Hegwood upon arrival in the islands in 1841 Sugar quickly turned into a big business and generated rapid population growth in the islands with 337,000 people immigrating over the span of a century. The sugar grown and processed in Hawaii was shipped primarily to the United States and, in smaller quantities, globally. Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company 's Puunene mill on Maui was the last operating sugar mill in Hawaii Contents 1 Origins 2 Sugar and the Big Five 3 Importing labor 4 Environmental impact 5 Decline of plantations in Hawaii 6 Sugar mills by island 7 Planters and Managers 8 Notes 9 References 10 External links Origins Industrial sugar production started slowly in Hawaii. The first sugar mill was created on the island of Lana ʻi in 1802 by an unidentified Chinese man who returned to China in 1803. The Old Sugar Mill, established in 1835 by Ladd & Co., is the site of the first sugar plantation. In 1836 the first 8,000 pounds ( 3,600 kg ) of sugar and molasses was shipped to the United States. The plantation town of Koloa, was established adjacent to the mill. By the 1840s, sugarcane plantations gained a foothold in Hawaiian agriculture. Steamships provided rapid and reliable transportation to the islands, and demand increased during the California Gold Rush. The land division law of 1848 ( known as The Great Mahele ) displaced Hawaiian people from their land, forming the basis for the sugarcane plantation economy. In 1850, the law was amended to allow foreign residents to buy and lease land. In 1850, when California became a state, profits declined and the number of plantations decreased to five due to the import tariff that was created. Market demand increased even further during the onset of the American Civil War which prevented Southern sugar from being shipped northward. The price of sugar rose 525 % from 4 cents per pound in 1861 to 25 cents in 1864. The Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 allowed Hawaii to sell sugar to the United States without paying duties or taxes, greatly increasing plantation profits. This treaty also guaranteed that all of the resources including land, water, human labor power, capital, and technology would be thrown behind sugarcane cultivation. The 1890 McKinley Tariff Act, an effort by the United States government to decrease the competitive pricing of Hawaiian sugar, paid 2 cents per pound to mainland producers. After significant lobbying efforts, this act was repealed in 1894. By 1890, 75 % of all privately held land was owned by foreign businessmen. The plantation owners wanted the United States to annex Hawaii so that Hawaiian sugar would never again be subject to tariffs. They also wanted the United States to annex Hawaii so there could be a U.S military base on the island ( Pearl Harbor ). Sugar and the Big Five Hawaii 's Big Five C. Brewer & Co. Theo H. Davies & Co. Amfac Castle & Cooke Alexander & Baldwin The industry was tightly controlled by descendants of missionary families and other Caucasian businessmen, concentrated in corporations known in Hawaii as `` The Big Five ''. These included Castle & Cooke, Alexander & Baldwin, C. Brewer & Co., H. Hackfeld & Co. ( later named American Factors ( now Amfac ) and Theo H. Davies & Co., which together eventually gained control over other aspects of the Hawaiian economy including banking, warehousing, shipping, and importing. This control of commodity distribution kept Hawaiians burdened under high prices and toiling under a diminished quality of life. These businessmen had perfected the double - edged sword of a wage - earning labor force dependent upon plantation goods and services. Close ties as missionaries to the Hawaiian monarchy along with capital investments, cheap land, cheap labor, and increased global trade, allowed them to prosper. Alexander & Baldwin acquired additional sugar lands and also operated a sailing fleet between Hawai ` i and the mainland ; the shipping concern became American - Hawaiian Line, and later Matson. Later the sons and grandsons of the early missionaries played central roles in the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893, creating a short - lived republic. In 1898, the Republic of Hawaii was annexed by the United States and became the Territory of Hawaii, aided by the lobbying of the sugar interests. Importing labor Hawaii Demographics, 1959. Hawaii Demographics, 2005. When Hawaiian plantations began to produce on a large scale, it became obvious that a labor force needed to be imported. The Hawaiian population was 1 / 6 its pre-1778 size due to ravaging disease brought by foreigners. Additionally, Hawaiian people saw little use for working on the plantations when they could easily subsist by farming and fishing. Plantation owners quickly began importing workers which dramatically changed Hawaii 's demographics and is an extreme example of globalization. In 1850, the first imported worker arrived from China. Between 1852 -- 1887, almost 50,000 Chinese arrived to work in Hawaii, while 38 % of them returned to China. Although help was needed to work the fields, new problems, like feeding, housing, and caring for new employees, were created for many of the planters since the Chinese immigrants did not live off the land like Native Hawaiians, who required little support. To maintain a workforce unable to organize effectively against them, plantation managers diversified the ethnicities of their workforce, and in 1878 the first Japanese arrived to work on the plantations. Between 1885 -- 1924, 200,000 Japanese people arrived with 55 % returning to Japan. Between 1903 -- 1910, 7,300 Koreans arrived and only 16 % returned to Korea. In 1906 Filipino people first arrived. Between 1909 and 1930, 112,800 Filipinos came to Hawaii with 36 % returning to the Philippines. Plantation owners worked hard to keep in place a hierarchical caste system that prevented worker organization and divided the camps based on ethnic identity. An interesting outcome of this multi-cultural workforce and globalization of plantation workers was the emergence of a common language. Known as Hawaiian Pidgin, this hybrid primarily of Hawaiian, English, Japanese, Chinese, and Portuguese allowed plantation workers to communicate effectively with one another and promoted a transfer of knowledge and traditions among the groups. A comparison of 1959 -- 2005 racial categories shows the ongoing shifts. A unique operation was the Kohala Sugar Company, known as `` The Missionary Plantation '' since it was founded by Reverend Elias Bond in 1862 to support his church and schools. He protested the slave - like conditions, and the profits made him one of the largest benefactors to other missions. It operated for 110 years. Environmental impact Amount of sugarcane harvested in Hawaii over time in acres Amount of sugarcane harvested in Hawaii over time in tons Sugar plantations dramatically impacted the environment around them. In an 1821 account, prior to the entrenchment of sugarcane plantations in Aiea, the area is described as belonging to many different people and being filled with taro and banana plantations along with a fish pond. This subsistence farming would not last long. Plantations were strategically located throughout the Hawaiian Islands for reasons including : fertile soil area, level topography, sufficient water for irrigation, and a mild climate with little annual variation. These plantations transformed the land primarily to suit water needs : construction of tunnels to divert water from the mountains to the plantations, reservoir construction, and well digging. Water was always a serious concern for plantation managers and owners. In the early 20th century, it took one ton of water to produce one pound of refined sugar. This inefficient use of water and the relative lack of fresh water in the island environment were fiercely compounding environmental degradation. Sugar processing places significant demands on resources including irrigation, coal, iron, wood, steam, and railroads for transportation. Early mills were extremely inefficient, producing molasses in four hours using an entire cord of wood to do so. This level of wood use caused dramatic deforestation. At times, ecosystems were entirely destroyed unnecessarily. One plantation drained a riparian area of 600 acres ( 2.4 km ) to produce cane. Ironically, after draining the land and forever altering the biodiversity levels, they discovered it was an ancient forest, so they harvested the trees for timber, only then to find that the land was completely unsuitable for sugarcane production. Sugar plantations were not only environmentally destructive in the past, they continue to be so. Major environmental concerns associated with sugarcane plantations include air and water pollution along with the proper disposal of the resulting waste. Modern calculations place the amount of water needed to produce one ton of cane at 3 - 10 cubic meters. Decline of plantations in Hawaii As the prevalence of sugarcane in Hawaii deteriorated, tourism was promoted to take its place. Sugar plantations suffered from many of the same afflictions that manufacturing market segments in the United States continue to feel. Labor costs increased significantly when Hawaii became a state and workers were no longer effectively indentured servants. The hierarchical caste system plantation managers had worked hard to maintain began to break down, with greater racial integrations as a result, ironically, of the sugarcane plantations. Workers began to discover they had rights, and in 1920 waged the first multi-cultural strike. Additionally global politics played a large role in the downfall of Hawaiian sugar. Shifting political alliances between 1902 and 1930 permitted Cuba to have a larger share of the United States sugar market, holding 45 % of the domestic quota while Hawaii, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico shared 25 %. The Big Five slowed the production of sugar as cheaper labor was found in India, South America and the Caribbean and concentrated their efforts on the imposition of a tourism - based society. Former plantation land was used by the conglomerates to build hotels and develop this tourist - based economy which has dominated the past fifty years of Hawaiian economics. Hawaii 's last working sugar mill, in Puunene, Maui, produced the final shipment of sugar from Hawaii in December, 2016. The mill was permanently close soon thereafter and the last 375 employees of the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company were laid off. Sugar mills by island Hawaii Maui : Molokai Oahu Kauai Planters and Managers Hawaiian Sugar Planters ' Association John Mott - Smith ( 1824 - 1895 ) Claus Spreckels ( 1828 - 1905 ) - whilst based mostly in California George P. Trousseau ( 1833 - 1894 ) Rufus A. Lyman ( 1842 - 1910 ) Samuel Parker ( 1853 - 1920 ) William H. Purvis ( 1858 - 1950 ) David M. Forbes ( 1863 - 1937 ) Notes ^ Jump up to : Deerr, 1949 ^ Jump up to : Urcia, 1960 ^ Jump up to : Takaki, 1983 ^ Jump up to : Kent, 1993 Jump up ^ Dorrance, William, Sugar Islands : The 165 - Year Story of Sugar in Hawaii ( Honolulu, Mutual Publishing, 2000 ), 11. ^ Jump up to : HSPA, 1949 ^ Jump up to : Takaki, 1994 ^ Jump up to : Alexander, 1937 Jump up ^ Lyn Danninger ( September 29, 2002 ). `` Isle institutions ' economic impact endures ''. Honolulu Star - Bulletin. Retrieved 2010 - 05 - 01. Jump up ^ Big Five, Hawaiihistory.org, http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&PageID=29, Nov. 19, 2013. Jump up ^ William Dorrance, Sugar Islands : The 165 - Year Story of Sugar in Hawaii ( Honolulu : Mutual Publishing, 2000 ), 20. Jump up ^ Steger, 2003 Jump up ^ Edward D. Beechert ( 1985 ), `` The Reverend Mr. Bond and Kohala Plantation '', Working in Hawaii : a labor history, University of Hawaii Press, pp. 71 -- 72, ISBN 978 - 0 - 8248 - 0890 - 7 ^ Jump up to : UNEP, 1982 Jump up ^ Downes, Lawrence. `` The Sun Finally Sets on Sugar Cane in Hawaii. 16 Jan 2017 ''. New York Times. Retrieved 3 March 2018. References Alexander, Arthur ( 1937 ), Koloa Plantation 1835 - 1935, Honolulu, HI. Deerr, Noel ( 1949 ), The History of Sugar, Volume 1, London : Chapman and Hall Ltd. Dorrance, William H. ; Morgan, Francis ( 2000 ), Sugar Islands : The 165 - Year Story of Sugar in Hawaiʻi, Honolulu, HI : Mutual Publishing. 2005 American Community Survey for Hawaii, Hawaii State Government, United States Census Bureau, 2006. Sugar in Hawaii, Honolulu, HI : Hawaiian Sugar Planters ' Association, 1949. Kent, Noel ( 1993 ), Hawaii : Islands Under the Influence, Honolulu, HI : University of Hawaii Press. Steger, M.B. ( 2003 ), Globalization : A Very Short Introduction, Oxford : Oxford University Press. Takaki, Ronald ( 1983 ), Pau Hana : Plantation Life and Labor in Hawaii, 1835 - 1920, Honolulu, HI : University of Hawaii Press... Takaki, Ronald ( 1994 ), Raising Cane : The World of Plantation Hawaii, New York, NY : Chelsea House Publishers. Sugarcane Harvested from 1934 -- 2006, United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2006 - 11 - 24. Urcia, Jose ( 1960 ), The Morphology of the Town as an Artifact : A Case Study of Sugar Plantation Towns on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii, Seattle, WA : University of Washington... Environmental Aspects of the Sugar Industry : An Overview, Paris, France : Imprimerie. : United Nations Environment Programme, 1982. Norwegian Aloha : The Making of a Sugar Cane Engineer, Lake Oswego, Oregon : Alder Business Publishing, 2011, ISBN 978 - 0 - 9792987 - 1 - 4. External links Hawaii Plantation Village `` Plantations, '' Densho Encyclopedia article Sugar ( as food commodity ) List of sugars and sugar products Chemistry Fructose Galactose Glucose Lactose Maltose Sucrose Trehalose Xylose Monosaccharide Disaccharide Free sugar Reducing sugar Sources Sugar beet Sugarcane Agave nectar Birch Coconut Date Honeydew Maple Palm Products Syrups Candi sugar Cheong Maesil - cheong Mogwa - cheong Yuja - cheong Corn syrup Glucose syrup Golden syrup High - fructose corn syrup High - maltose corn syrup Honey Inverted sugar syrup Kuromitsu Maple syrup Molasses Pine honey Steen 's cane syrup Treacle Solid forms Brown Peen tong Chancaca Crystalline fructose Gelling Gula melaka Jaggery Misri Mizuame Molasses sugar Muscovado Nib Non-centrifugal cane sugar Panela Plantation Reserve Powdered Preserving Rock candy Sucanat Sugar candy Barley sugar Butterscotch Candy Hard Toffee Sugar glass Sugarloaf Wasanbon Other forms Caramel Cotton candy floss Maple sugar foods Rum Sugar alcohol Sugar confectionery Sugarcane juice Tuzemák Unrefined sweeteners Industry Production Boilery Plantation Casa grande Refinery Sugar bush Sugar cane mill Engenho Batey Zafra By region ( current ) Cuba Caribbean Philippines Sri Lanka U.S. Sugar Program By region ( historical ) Danish West Indies Fiji Hawaii History Amelioration Act 1798 Blackbirding Colonial molasses trade Demerara rebellion of 1823 Holing cane Molasses Act Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 Slavery in the British and French Caribbean Sugar Act Sugar Duties Act 1846 Sugar Intervention Taiwan Sugar Railways Triangular trade Culture Crop over Sugar house Sugaring Sugar nips Sugar packet Sucrology Sugar people Sugar tit Sugar sculpture Treacle mine Related Added sugar Australian Aboriginal sweet foods Bagasse Barley malt syrup Brown rice syrup Cane knife Flavored syrup Fruit syrup Date honey Grape Jallab Health effects Nectar Sugar addiction Sugars in wine Residual sugar Sugar substitute Sweetened beverage Sweetener Sweetness Vinasse Yacón syrup Production State of Hawaii Honolulu ( capital ) Topics Constitution Delegations Discovery and settlement Earthquakes Geography Government Hawaiianize History Islands ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian Language ) Kūʻē Petitions Music People State symbols Tourism Transportation Unification Seal of Hawaii Society Hawaiian architecture Crime Culture Demographics Economy Education Energy Folklore Media Politics Sports Main islands Hawai ʻi Kaho ʻolawe Kaua ʻi Lāna ʻi Maui Moloka ʻi Ni ʻihau Oʻahu Northwestern Islands French Frigate Shoals Gardner Kure Laysan Lisianski Maro Reef Necker Nihoa Pearl and Hermes Communities Hilo Honolulu Kahului Kāneʻohe Līhu ʻe Pearl City Waipahu Counties Hawai ʻi Honolulu Kalawao Kaua ʻi Maui Sovereignty Movement Hawaiian Renaissance 2008 occupation of Iolani Palace Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sugar_plantations_in_Hawaii&oldid=828790470 '' Categories : Sugar plantations in Hawaii Agriculture in Hawaii Agricultural buildings and structures in Hawaii American sugar industry History of sugar Pre-statehood history of Hawaii Sugar plantations in the United States Hidden categories : All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from May 2016 Articles with unsourced statements from January 2016 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Bahasa Indonesia Edit links This page was last edited on 4 March 2018, at 19 : 48. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what happened in 1875 that helped the hawaiian sugar industry grow
Answer: The Reciprocity Treaty of 1875