Sugar plantations in Hawaii

Sugarcane was introduced to Hawaiʻi by its first inhabitants in approximately 600 AD and was observed by Captain Cook upon arrival in the islands in 1778. 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 Hawaiʻi was shipped primarily to the United States and, in smaller quantities, globally. Sugarcane and pineapple plantations were the largest employers in Hawaiʻi. Sugar production ended in 2016, with a small quantity of sugarcane still being grown for the manufacture of Rhum agricole.

Origins

Sugarcane was introduced to Hawaiʻi by Polynesians in approximately 600 AD and was observed by Captain Cook upon arrival in the islands in 1778. They selected varieties that grew well across the broad spectrum of habitats in Hawaiʻi. Industrial sugar production started slowly in Hawaiʻi. The first sugar mill was created on the island of Lānaʻi 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 Māhele) 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 attained statehood, profits declined and the number of plantations decreased to five due to the import tariff that was instituted. 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 Hawaiʻi 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 Hawaiʻi privately held land was owned by foreign businessmen.

Sugar and the Big Five

The industry was tightly controlled by descendants of missionary families and other businessmen, concentrated in corporations known in Hawaiʻi 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 capitalism – 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. That 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 Hawaiʻi in 1893, creating a short-lived republic. In 1898, the Republic of Hawaiʻi was annexed by the United States and became the Territory of Hawaiʻi, aided by the lobbying of the sugar interests.

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