ABSTRACT
Until the end of the 18th century, mankind was familiar only with sugar produced from sugar-cane, a plant growing in the Indies, which, after having been brought back to Europe by the Crusaders, had conquered the New World. From 1850 onwards, owing to favourable legislation and enormous quantities of government aid, the production of sugar from beet experienced a remarkable growth and spread to almost the whole of Europe, it main centres being the north of France, Belgium and the Netherlands, Northern Germany, Bohemia and finally Ukraine. During the 18th century sugar was a luxury food product, almost everywhere in the world. The main consumer market, the British market, was practically monopolized by European beet. At this point in time, however, new sugar cane producers were emerging especially in Asia: Java, the Philippines, Formosa. In the case of the latter sugar cultivation was in the hands of the Japanese from 1895.
