Changes

==In Japan==

==In Japan==

Prior to Satsuma getting involved in the sugar industry, mainland Japan obtained brown, white, and rock sugar chiefly from [[Chinese in Nagasaki|Chinese]] and [[VOC|Dutch]] merchants in [[Nagasaki]]. Sugar continued to come in through these sources even later into the Edo period, with Dutch merchants selling Javanese sugar and Chinese merchants selling Taiwanese sugar following the [[Qing Dynasty]] quelling of the last of the [[Ming loyalists]] on [[Taiwan]] in [[1683]]. Sugar also began to be grown and refined in small quantities in [[Owari han|Owari]], [[Wakayama han|Wakayama]], and several [[han|domains]] in [[Chugoku|western Honshû]] and [[Shikoku]] after the shogun obtained information about sugar cane cultivation from Satsuma and planted a test crop at his personal villa. In the early 19th century, [[Tosa han]] began to produce so much sugar, in fact, that Satsuma filed a formal suit with the shogunate, asking that they do something to limit Tosa's sugar production, as it represented unfair competition.<ref>[[Luke Roberts]], ''Mercantilism in a Japanese Domain: The Merchant Origins of Economic Nationalism in 18th-Century Tosa'', Cambridge University Press (1998), 190.</ref> By 1800 or so, consumption of domestic sugar exceeded that of imported sugar.

Prior to Satsuma getting involved in the sugar industry, mainland Japan obtained brown, white, and rock sugar chiefly from [[Chinese in Nagasaki|Chinese]] and [[VOC|Dutch]] merchants in [[Nagasaki]]. Sugar continued to come in through these sources even later into the Edo period, with Dutch merchants selling Javanese sugar and Chinese merchants selling Taiwanese sugar following the [[Qing Dynasty]] quelling of the last of the [[Ming loyalists]] on [[Taiwan]] in [[1683]].  

 

Sugar also began to be grown and refined in small quantities in [[Owari han|Owari]], [[Wakayama han|Wakayama]], and several [[han|domains]] in [[Chugoku|western Honshû]] and [[Shikoku]] after Shogun [[Tokugawa Yoshimune]] obtained information about sugar cane cultivation from Satsuma and planted a test crop at his personal villa. This came as part of a greater effort on the part of the shogunate to encourage the cultivation of cash crops which might be used to help reduce the amount of [[silver]] and [[copper]] flowing out of the country. These programs were successful to a point, introducing a variety of cash crops to a number of regions across the archipelago, some of which had profoundly positive impacts upon the local or [[han|domain]] economies; it also spurred considerable growth of scholarly activity in botanical categorization and pharmocopoeia. It did not, however, single-handedly solve the country's silver problem.<ref>[[Marius Jansen]], ''China in the Tokugawa World'', Harvard University Press (1992), 35-37.</ref> In the early 19th century, [[Tosa han]] began to produce so much sugar, in fact, that Satsuma filed a formal suit with the shogunate, asking that they do something to limit Tosa's sugar production, as it represented unfair competition.<ref>[[Luke Roberts]], ''Mercantilism in a Japanese Domain: The Merchant Origins of Economic Nationalism in 18th-Century Tosa'', Cambridge University Press (1998), 190.</ref> By 1800 or so, consumption of domestic sugar exceeded that of imported sugar.

This domestic sugar included, however, sugar grown on the [[Amami Islands]], a set of islands seized from the Ryûkyû Kingdom and annexed to Satsuma han in [[Invasion of Ryukyu|1609]]. In a series of policies that has been compared to "a structure of colonial extraction,"<ref name=hellyer95>Hellyer, 95.</ref> Satsuma encouraged the islanders of [[Amami Oshima|Amami Ôshima]], [[Tokunoshima]], and [[Kikaigashima]] to dedicate much of their efforts to the cultivation and refining of sugar, rather than subsistence farming or other diversified activities. This paralleled the exploitative practices of sugar plantations elsewhere in the world, such as in the Caribbean and [[Japanese immigration to Hawaii|Hawaii]], in various respects, with one key difference (among others) being that Satsuma did not employ slaves or indentured labor,<ref>Hellyer, 96.</ref> but allowed the islanders to retain their traditional lands, and to a large extent, their local social hierarchies, elite political structures, and a small degree of political autonomy.

This domestic sugar included, however, sugar grown on the [[Amami Islands]], a set of islands seized from the Ryûkyû Kingdom and annexed to Satsuma han in [[Invasion of Ryukyu|1609]]. In a series of policies that has been compared to "a structure of colonial extraction,"<ref name=hellyer95>Hellyer, 95.</ref> Satsuma encouraged the islanders of [[Amami Oshima|Amami Ôshima]], [[Tokunoshima]], and [[Kikaigashima]] to dedicate much of their efforts to the cultivation and refining of sugar, rather than subsistence farming or other diversified activities. This paralleled the exploitative practices of sugar plantations elsewhere in the world, such as in the Caribbean and [[Japanese immigration to Hawaii|Hawaii]], in various respects, with one key difference (among others) being that Satsuma did not employ slaves or indentured labor,<ref>Hellyer, 96.</ref> but allowed the islanders to retain their traditional lands, and to a large extent, their local social hierarchies, elite political structures, and a small degree of political autonomy.