The history of rum is closely linked to geography, sugarcane, sugar production, and African slavery. There’s a general storytelling of rum history from East to West, but we’ll put a little more context to it.
Sugarcane cultivation originated in Asia, Papua New Guinea about 6000 years ago. It spread westward during the era of exploration. Indonesia and India made a cane wine. Near East traders then brought sugar and cane to Europe to the Mediterranean region. Cyprus was the European centre of sugar production in the 11th century.
Pre-Caribbean
Sugar traded from the Byzantine Empire reached Venice & Genoa, the Maritime Republics. These pre-Italy societies heavily influenced Western Europe. Genoa was the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. By the 1300s, The Genovese controlled sugar plantations in South Spain and raided West Africa for slaves.
In the 1400s, the Portuguese and Spanish colonised Madeira and The Canaries. In the 1500, The Genovese controlled two-thirds of Madeira’s sugar production. European sugar production, slavery, and rum all moved west to the Caribbean with the transatlantic slave trade. From the African coast to sugar estates in the Americas.
The Europeans
The 5 main colonising countries were Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, France, and England (then Britain). European colonists and African slaves in the Caribbean made rum. Chattel slavery, triangular trade routes, and sugar production facilitated rum-making. From West Africa to The Caribbean & Trade winds brought it back to Europe.
All these European powers traded in slaves, molasses, and rum, in a lucrative industry that became known as the “Triangular Trade”. From West Africa, people were rounded and coerced with the lure of better lives in the Caribbean. Only to be shackled and doomed to a life of misery if they even survived tortuous crossings.
The Portuguese
By 1500, Madeira was the world’s biggest sugar exporter. The Portuguese enslaved Africans to work in 80 sugar mills and 200 plantations. In 1532, the Portuguese royal family colonised Brazil to expand sugarcane production there. They took their stills & skills and expanded thousands of sugar mills (Engenho’s) along the sugar coast. Distilling cane juice led to the creation of Cachaça and was commonplace by the 1620s.
In 1649, Madeira was making agricultural rum. 1800s Portuguese families emigrated to the Caribbean; Trinidad, Saint Vincent, Guyana, and Antigua. Established Antigua Distillery and Portuguese rum shops in Guyana and Trinidad. In the last decade, both Brazil and Madeira have a rum renaissance focusing on premium sugar cane juice rum.
The Dutch
In the 1620s, trading experts the Dutch took Brazil for 30 years. They sent sugarcane, sugar production, slaves, and rum-making from northern Brazil to the Caribbean. The Dutch had colonies in Indonesia, Brazil, New York and the Dutch West Indies of Aruba, Curaçao & Saint Maarten.
In the 1700s they established Caribbean trading back to Amsterdam, which exists to this day as the biggest supplier of bulk rum to brands. They traded in Batavia Arrack, a sugarcane spirit from Indonesia.
The British
Sugar first came to England in the 11th century by the Crusaders. The Royal Navy was formed in 1546, English colonial power battled with the French & Spanish. The Navy’s daily ration from 1655-1970 expanded the market for rum. Sailors at ports generated demand for rum at home and abroad.
In the 1640s Barbados, the British made rum from molasses with African slaves. 1703 is the origin of the oldest operating distillery today. The British Empire imposed the Molasses Act 1733, 1766 & Sugar Tax 1764 controlling supply to British colonies in America. In the 1700s, London was a global rum hub, and Glasgow distilled rum in sugar houses with imported molasses.
Jamaica rum distilling took off the mid-1700s. High-ester rum was made for the German market. In the late 1700s, a third of Jamaican plantations were owned by Scots; Hampden Estate & Monymusk. The British losing the Revolutionary War shifted rum and sugar trade focus back to the UK.
After the abolition of slavery in 1838, the British West Indies moved from sugar to rum. We can see the trade legacy of connecting Guyana, Trinidad, Grenada, Barbados, and Jamaica in modern-day Demerara navy rum and inter-island blends.
The French
France, Like Britain had an enormous empire & hugely influential in rum history. French Overseas of Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guiana, Reunion & French Polynesia all have a long history of rum making. In the 1600s, French West Indies rum-making on Martinique was made from molasses on pot stills. Pere Labat innovated cane cultivation and distilling.
In the 1700s French overseas rum was banned in Metropolitan France to protect domestic wine & cognac. In 1809, France gave Mauritius the exclusive right to produce rum against its neighbouring competitor, Reunion Island. The French Caribbean developed the Creole column still on Martinique. By the 1860s, the French Navy switched from brandy to rum rations. European sugar beet decimated the French Caribbean sugar industry.
Haiti emerged as a rum-making powerhouse in the later 1800s. The 1902 Mont Pelee volcano eruption in Martinique destroyed the molasses rum distilleries. Guadeloupe developed as a rum producer, and Rhum Agricole as we know it today only really took off after World War II.
The Spanish
In the 10th century, the Moors grew sugarcane in Costa Tropical, Andalusia. This made it the main place in Spain for making rum and sugar. Motril would be nicknamed ‘Little Cuba’. From there, sugarcane plants were taken to the Canary Islands, which Christopher Columbus took to the Caribbean in 1493.
The sugarcane failed. Later they brought in experts from the Canary Islands to help get it established. Cane was brought to Cuba, Mexico, and Columbus’s son started a sugarcane plantation in Jamaica. From the 1600s to 1796, the Spanish crown forbade distilled spirits in its colonies.
The Spanish ruled The Philippines 1565-1898, and it’s still felt in their rum-making to this day. 1800s Spanish distillers like the Bacardi family migrated to Cuba creating many brands we know today.
Cuba
In 1862, Bacardi started making rum in Santiago de Cuba, and in the 1890s were the first to use column stills replacing the pot still. Introducing Cuban light rum and charcoal filtering. It was the preferred style of the Spanish crown. During the 1920s US Prohibition, Cuba flourished in a golden era. Americans flocked to try cantinero cocktails like the Daiquiri, El Presidente, and Mojito.
The 1930s saw the rise of big brands and industrial rum like Havana Club, Don Q, and later Trinidad Distillers. Puerto Rico flooded the US with rum during World War II. And, in the 1960 Cuban crisis, Cuba rum was nationalised, and Bacardi was exiled to Puerto Rico.
Spanish distilling has a big impact on rum production in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Panama, and other Latin American countries. Maestro/Maestra Roneros master blenders rose in the 1960s. Premium Dominican rum launched in the 1980s, and Solera System rums appeared in the 1990s. The shift from light to aromatic and aged rum is well and truly underway.
America
The world’s largest rum market has a rum heritage stretching back to the mid-1600s colonies of New England. Sugar and molasses were traded with British Caribbean distilled rum. By 1770, there were over 150 rum distilleries in New England, it was the global epicentre of rum. In 1789, George Washington celebrated his election win with a hogshead of aged Barbados rum. British trade embargoes turned America into a whiskey nation.
The legacy of 1920s US Prohibition defines the global rum market to this day. US liquor laws and the use of ex-bourbon casks decarded by the bourbon industry are used by most rum distillers today. In the 1930s Tiki culture spread across the US with exotic Polynesian-themed rum bars.
1970s Caribbean cruises vacation rum drinking sparked rum cocktails into the 80s. If you lived in that era the trends were light rum and spiced rum. The US craft distilling boom of 2010s evolved to the rum distilling scene we see today with over 500 rum producers and brands – the most in any market. And you can see them here.
While the Maritime Republics pre-dated modern Italy, Italian brands today have played a significant role in recent decades. Pioneering moves to open new markets like Haitian Clairin and reintroducing high ester rum from Jamaica and other countries.
Here’s a recap of the rum history:
1. The Portuguese pioneered the Brazilian sugar industry and its production of sugarcane spirits.
2. The Dutch, as expert traders from Asia to The Caribbean, established Amsterdam as a major hub for rum trade.
3. The British played a dominant role in the rum we see today; British West Indies, navy and inter-island blends.
4. The French had a big role in developing rum; important advances in distilling and styles like Rhum Agricole.
5. The Spanish had a pivotal role in early cane cultivation and distilling techniques across Latin America and beyond.
6. Cuba played a significant role in commercialising rum, especially column-distilled light rum, and charcoal filtering. Additionally, they made rum popular in cocktails and created famous brands such as Bacardi and Havana Club.
7. Italy’s Maritime Republics dominated early European trade. Today, modern Italian brands innovate by opening new rum markets and profiles.
Final thoughts are this is only a brief snapshot of the history of rum. We’ll add more articles to help better understand its diverse past. You can find more info on producer profiles on our producer map.
Sources and further reading:
A Rum Tale: Spirit of the New World by Joseph Piercy
And a Bottle of Rum by Wayne Curtis
Modern Caribbean Rum by Matt Pietrek & Carrie Smith
Caribbean Rum: A Social and Economic History by Frederick H. Smith
To learn more on the rums past we recommend visiting these:
Distillerie Saint-James et Musée du Rhum: Martinique
Visit La Savane Des Esclaves: Martinique
Barbados Museum and Historical Society
Hanover Museum: Jamaica
Kura Hulanda Museum: Curaçao
Frederiksted National Historic Site, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Mémorial de l’Esclavage: Nantes, France
Slave Trade Memorial: New York City
