Traditional knowledge
Speaking to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, Industry and Investment Minister Vasant Bharath said “Trinidad and Tobago’s culture and history is entwined with the history of rum, dating back to the days of our sugar cane plantations” (Government of Trinidad and Tobago, 2013). Distilled from molasses, the amount of sugar cane cultivation in the country made Trinidad and Tobago an ideal location for rum production (Library of Congress of the USA). First introduced in the late 1700s, by the late nineteenth century the island of Tobago was one of the top sugar producers in the region and Trinidadian workers enjoyed wages that surpassed many of their Caribbean counterparts (Library of Congress of the USA).