Motril Costa Tropical - a history of the sugar cane industry
Did you know that Motril was at one time the sugar capital of the world and that today the only pre-industrial sugar museum in Europe is here in Motril? Opened in October 2004 the Museo Preindustrial de la Caña de Azucar is built on the site of the remains of the La Palma sugar refinery house discovered in 1990 during excavation work at the rear of the Casa de la Palma building. The museum documents the history of sugar refinery spanning some 10,000 years. Indeed the earliest reference to sugar production in the Motril area is 10th century, however it wasn’t until the 16th-18th centuries that production boomed.
The La Palma Sugar House dates from the 1540s to around 1787 and the sugar production process remained virtually unchanged for 200 hundred years. Mass production of sugar began in the 1570s. Each sugar house (there were 11 in the Motril area at its peak) employed 200-300 people for processing and up to 500 people for sugar cane harvesting. Sugar from Motril was shipped worldwide from Almuñecar and Malaga, making Motril the sugar capital of the world. In 1654 the La Palma Sugar House alone was producing the equivalent of 822 tons of sugar.
Sugar refining was big business and there were strict rules of access to the precious sugar cane plantations. Anyone caught trespassing, even if not cutting the sugar cane, would be imprisoned and fined. Those who could not afford to pay were beaten on the back with a cane.
By 1657 the commercial value of the sugar trade was such that the town of Motril was able to buy the title of city and therefore have its own mayor and town council independent of Granada. The wealth generated by the sugar trade also attracted pirates between the 15th-18th century so watch towers and fortifications were built along the coast, one known as Torre de la Vela still survives today.
However, all this wealth and prosperity came at a price. The sugar refineries needed wood to fuel their furnaces but this led to mass deforestation. A single sugar house consumed 300 cart loads of wood in a season. This mass deforestation had a substantial impact on the local environment, destroying some 20 million square metres of forest land, transforming the landscape, the effects of which are still in evidence today.
The cutting down of the trees also meant increased flooding to the low lying plantations and it was this, and the lack of sustainable wood fuel, that led to the decline in the pre-industrial sugar industry. By 1673 only 3 of the original 11 refineries were left. It was not until the mid 19th century that steam driven machines returned Motril to its position as the sugar capital. Evidence of these 19th century sugar refineries can be seen in the shape of the brick chimney stacks.
To find out more, or if you simply want something to do when the weather is not so good, I recommend The Museo Preindustrial de la Caña de Azucar. It is behind the La Palma UNED College opposite the Dani supermarket. The museum is wheelchair friendly and has an information centre with literature in English, German, French and Spanish. The helpful staff speak English and can give guided tours. There is a full working reproduction of a water powered twin roller sugar house refinery, original artifacts and other static exhibits. The Museum is open Tue-Sun 10am to 1.30pm and 5pm to 8.30pm, entrance €2. Tel: 958 822 206 or online at www.motril.es/museodelazucar.htm (English, German, French & Spanish).
on October 12th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
I understand that in the XVIII century, an Irishman in Motril introduced a new system of boiler where he used imported coal instead of local wood for his furnaces.