<P> As the plantation economy expanded, the slave trade grew to meet the growing demand for labor . </P> <P> Western Europe was the final destination for the plantation produce . At this time, Europe was starting to industrialize, and it needed a lot of materials to manufacture goods . Being the power center of the world at the time, they exploited the New World and Africa to industrialize . Africa supplied slaves for the plantations; the New World produced raw material for industries in Europe . Manufactured goods, of higher value, were then sold both to Africa and the New World . The system was largely run by European merchants </P> <P> Sugar has a long history as a plantation crop . Cultivation of sugar had to follow a precise scientific system to profit from the production . Sugar plantations everywhere were disproportionate consumers of labor, often enslaved, because of the high mortality of the plantation laborers . In Brazil, plantations were called casas grandes and suffered from similar issues . </P> <P> The slaves working the sugar plantation were caught in an unceasing rhythm of arduous labor year after year . Sugarcane is harvested about 18 months after planting and the plantations usually divided their land for efficiency . One plot was lying fallow, one plot was growing cane, and the final plot was being harvested . During the December--May rainy season, slaves planted, fertilized with animal dung, and weeded . From January to June, they harvested the cane by chopping the plants off close to the ground, stripping the leaves and then cutting them into shorter strips to be bundled off to be sent to the sugar cane mill . </P>

How did the availability of cash crops lead to developing plantations