Sugar cane production replaced the island’s coffee plantations in the 1810s. Following the loss of two French sugar-producing colonies (Santo Domingo and Île de France, present-day Mauritius), Bourbon converted its economy to sugar cane production.
Sugar cane on Bourbon
The loss of France’s colonies, the coffee crisis and the problems affecting the beet sugar industry led sugar cane to become a major crop in Bourbon within three decades. More land was given over to sugar cane production and specialised equipment was developed, mostly importantly the mill.
Introduction of machinery and industrial growth
Initially powered by water, wind and animals, mills were equipped with Fawcett & Littledale steam engines from 1817, along the same lines as the new factory built by Charles Desbassayns at Le Chaudron. Two decades later, new technical advances – the Gimart battery and Wetzell boilers – less expensive, more productive and adapted to the colony, improved the efficiency of the sugar industry, which grew at a steady pace until the 1850s when it was hit by a series of problems. It was not until the island became a French département in 1946 that the sugar industry was radically restructured and its facilities improved.
What archaeology can tell us about the sugar industry
There are only two remaining plants on Réunion, one in the east (Bois-Rouge) and the other in the south (Le Gol). Where plants have not been destroyed, they have been renovated or conserved in a state of managed ruin.
The archaeological study of plants with different structures, scales and levels of technicality has resulted in some surprising discoveries, including machine parts (domaine de Villèle), combustion components (furnace of the Domaine de la Roseraye), and outdoor equipment (the Pierrefonds plant and the Grand Fond plant).
