The last weeks of summer. Previously, these blessed days were associated with a cold cutlet on the beach under the scorching sun, a coveted can of kvass or a barrel of beer with an indispensable group of suffering and busily bored saleswoman. But everything is changing: globalism, you know. A modern man in the street, who is ready to pay over a hundred euros for a portion of the gruel of poor fishermen from substandard tripe and sea reptiles, which is the untwisted buybes, now sees the sunset of summer in sparkling rum. However, there is hardly another drink in the world that has caused such a number of victims.
Rum in its short history has become one of the most important links in many military conflicts and the favorite drink of pirates, a city-forming product for the whole region and a strategic reserve of entire fleets, a cure and a guarantee of imminent death, etc.
The very origin of the name of the drink is unclear. Here everyone pulls the blanket over themselves - from the French “arome” (aroma), from the English “rumbullion” (big noise and din), from the Latin “saccharum” (sugar) and so on. No matter how some romantics of the green snake tried to root the history of rum in antiquity, the distillation of exactly the rum we know began in the 17th century. Thousands of Negro slaves working on the plantations of the Caribbean noticed during the processing of sugar cane that molasses (a by-product of sugar production) is capable of fermenting to release alcohol. No, of course, different states vied with each other that it was their blacks who were so inventive - from Barbados to Brazil.
Colonial countries, notably England, tried desperately to suck everything out of their colonies. For example, the British, who did not disdain slavery in the 17th century, planted their territories, such as the aforementioned Barbados, with sugar cane. As a result, there was so much by-product molasses that rum production skyrocketed (although earlier it was fed to the same slaves or poured into the river). And cheap booze was badly needed in the new colonies for various reasons. In a matter of years, rum began to be produced even in New England (Plymouth colony).
Thus, an eerie paramilitary, economic and even political monster - the "rum triangle" was born. Ships of all stripes, from the future "freedom-loving" Americans, British, Spaniards to French, Dutch and even Swedes, cruised between Africa, the New World and Europe. Rum, sugar, clothing and weapons in Africa were used to buy slaves. In the New World, slaves were sold, investing in spices, again rum and sugar, taking it to Europe. Etc.
The logic, flawless in its cannibalism, was that the slaves began to cultivate the very plantations on which the very "currency" for which the slaves were bought was born. Not bad, right? And under the conditions of the exploitation of the slave on the plantation, he cut down the necessary amount of raw materials (sugar cane) in a week to cover the cost of himself.
By the way, it was on one of these flights from the Old World to Barbados that the legendary pirate Henry Morgan, who worked as a simple cabin boy, was able to accumulate a little capital. Then he was able to buy … a ship on shares with a couple of comrades. This seems to give an idea of what kind of finances were spinning in the rum triangle. Later, it was this ship that would become just the beginning of Morgan's whole pirate flotilla.
Another confirmation of the strategic importance of the Roma for the whole Caribbean region, apart from those that are drawn into the "rum triangle", is the fact of the exchange of tough economic sanctions between the countries that exploit them. It would seem that the middle of the 17th century is a rampant piracy and privateering, there are no other cases? But no one wanted to miss their chance on a rum horse to enter the extraordinarily profitable economic reality of the time.
For example, France, which banned the import of rum and molasses into the metropolis in order to protect the local producer, only increased the production of molasses and sugar in the colonies. “French” raw materials for rum turned out to be the cheapest and pushed other players out of the market. The British opposed this in every possible way, introducing a ban on French raw materials. Everyone fought for the market by any means.
Everyone needed rum. The sailors needed this drink. So, fresh water in those days was given out on ships at a strict limit. At the same time, it often quickly went bad. So that the water could be swallowed, it was diluted with rum. Sometimes rum was added to the water before it became unusable. Besides, rum saved from scurvy, in a certain sense.
So, almost all cocktails, for a portion of which modern hipsters lay out hundreds of rubles, were born thanks to military sailors or desperate warlike pirates. For example, the grog was born thanks to the British admiral Edward Vernon (1684-1757), who saw that his gallant sailors after the rum were going crazy. And the admiral could not but give out rum - a long tradition of the fleet and the legal right of a sailor. Therefore, he ordered to dilute rum with lemon juice, which, by the way, enhanced the healing properties of the drink in the fight against scurvy and other ailments on a long trip.
In much the same way, countless other cocktails were born. Pirates, who preferred quantity of intoxicating to quality, drowned out the bad taste of cheap rum with mint and lime, adding more water. So, when the next beauty from the VIP clients' box sips a mojito, advise her to curtain one eye and get a parrot.
In addition, the rum was a very powerful incentive for the team during … boarding fights. Everyone knows that the life of a sailor of that time was not full of joys, so rum was a small compensation. And when the sailors went into battle, whether they were from the British Navy or ordinary adventurers from a pirate ship, they knew that the stocks of rum, which were certainly present on the attacked ship, would be divided among all. The phrase "forward to the wine store" doesn't seem so funny anymore, does it?
And, of course, the way of life, and the very appearance of warlike pirates (in their heyday they called themselves "coastal brothers") would not have developed without the rum. True, he is significantly different from the romanticized fictional figure of Captain Blood, and from the funny Jack Sparrow from the endless Hollywood series. First, they compensated for their complete indifference to personal hygiene with excellent care for personal weapons. Secondly, the rum on the shore instantly turned skillful paramilitary sailors into real insane. The stolen gold and silver was drunk at the moment, increasing the power of the "rum triangle".
This is how Alexander Exquemelin, a contemporary of those events (either Dutch or French), described life in one of the cradle of piracy in Jamaica: “Some of them manage to spend two or three thousand reais per night (a slave cost 100 reais, and a bottle of rum - 4), so that by the morning they don't even have a shirt on their bodies. At the same time, in the Jamaican Port Royal, by the end of the 17th century, a house was worth almost more than a decent mansion in London or Paris. Almost all of them either had a tavern or a distillery. The income was mind-boggling. Pirates and planters were treated to food from silver dishes, and rum was drunk from golden bowls for church communion.
True, with such a lifestyle, they quickly squandered everything and went out to sea again. The famous thug Rock Brazilian drank whole barrels of rum, and when he was out of sorts, he wandered the streets with a barrel in one hand and a naked saber in the other. As soon as a casual passer-by did not like Rock, he instantly cut off his hand. And one of the most legendary pirates, Henry Morgan, although by the end of his life he himself became a planter and an influential political figure, eventually drank himself and died of cirrhosis of the liver. What an irony! So it is worth looking for treasures not in buried chests, but in the accounts of the oldest distilleries of that time.
Well, the most direct example of how rum, or rather, the original "priests" of this drink, influenced the geopolitics of the region, is a certain Charles Barre. This enterprising fellow hired as secretary to the Earl of Arlington and migrated to Jamaica. Having deployed a stormy activity, he called fresh fighters to the New World to replenish the fleet of filibusters, who were sometimes given letters of marque. Soon he became a "diplomat" with a Caribbean flavor, i.e. negotiated the issuance of letters of marque, the sale of loot, and besides, was the most successful owner of … a tavern. There he recruited new pirates and was invariably rich.
The rum triangle, which reaped its bloody harvest both at sea and on land, disintegrated only at the beginning of the 19th century. And that is only because the stakes at stake in the wars were no longer dependent on rum, molasses or slaves.
