Ottoman Trade Routes and Sugar

The Ottoman Empire's control over key trade routes significantly hindered Europe's access to sugar, inadvertently spurring the search for new sugar sources in the New World.

This article explores the indirect role of the Ottoman Empire in the European sugar trade. During the Ottoman Empire's expansion and peak influence, sugar was primarily cultivated in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. For it to reach Europe, it had to traverse trade routes under Ottoman control.

This arrangement made sugar's journey to Europe logistically challenging and subjected it to substantial taxation. The Ottoman Empire's intermediary power, seen as an attempt to control Europe's access to sugar, became a primary driver for European powers to seek their own sugar sources. This quest led to the discovery of sugarcane cultivation in the Caribbean and, consequently, the global expansion of the slavery system. Thus, instead of relying on the expensive and arduous Ottoman-controlled trade routes, sugar could be transported from the Caribbean to Europe much more easily and affordably.