Puerto Rican <i>Machete</i>
notes: label: Description
content: The <i>machete</i> acquired in Ponce, Puerto Rico is made of ausubo wood and was used to harvest sugar cane. Sugar cane production in Puerto Rico began in the sixteenth century with the establishment of large sugar plantations known as <i>haciendas azucareras</i>. Production of sugar cane continued through the twentieth century, enabling Puerto Rico to become one of the principal producers of sugar in the world. Despite the wealth of the sugar industry, conditions for the laborers remained harsh and with little opportunity for economic stability or independence. Internal divisions within the industry resulting from these conditions as well as technological improvements and consolidation caused a decline and eventual closure of many of the mills and haciendas in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
label: See more items in
content: Many Voices, One Nation
label: Exhibition
content: Many Voices, One Nation
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Teodoro Vidal
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1997.0097.1173
label: catalog number
content: 1997.0097.1173
label: accession number
content: 1997.0097
objectType: label: Object Name
content: machete