Sugar

"a most precious product, very necessary for the use and health of mankind"

- William of Tyre, 12th-century crusader

Sugar has played an important role in history as a medicine, a spice, a symbol of royalty and wealth, and an instrument of oppression, addiction, and disease. The quest for sugar and its related commodities—rum, coffee, tea, and chocolate—and the wealth they produced, generated a massive boost to the Atlantic slave trade, increased European colonization of tropical lands, contributed to the Industrial Revolution, and forever altered mankind’s food consumption and nutrition.

Sugar was a luxury for centuries, spawning opulent and elegantly fashioned decorative furnishings for the tables of the wealthy. Savannah merchants imported these wares from

northern cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and from England, France, China, and other countries, via sailing ships and then steam ships into the Port of Savannah. The tables and display cases in this gallery showcase the finely crafted tea, chocolate, coffee, and dessert services that once belonged to local Savannahians.