07/21/2025
Have you had a chance to check out our virtual exhibition, Rum in the Colonies: The First Hundred Years?? Follow the link in Instagram bio or visit spiritsmuseum.org to learn about the origins of rum and its importance as a trade commodity in Virginia and beyond.
This illustration from the 17th century shows a phase of the sugar refining process, which creates the byproducts needed to produce rum (such as molasses). Here, the sugarcane is placed into rollers that are operated by oxen. The engraving includes letters and descriptions that indicate how this technology worked. Enslaved workers conduct the refining, while European overseers can be spotted in the scene conversing with one another and instructing the enslaved men on their duties. The rum trade was virtually inseparable from the slave trade, as rum was used to barter with slave traders in West Africa, while enslaved laborers were often tasked with the most grueling parts of both sugarcane refining and rum distillation. Learn more by visiting our featured exhibition!
“Sugar Mill with Vertical Rollers, French West Indies,” 1665
Engraving, published in: Charles de Rochefort (French, 1605-1683), Histoire naturelle et morale des iles Antilles de l’Amerique . . . (Rotterdam 1681), p. 332
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