According to some historians, the British sugar plantations in the Caribbean were the beginning of the British empire. In 1750, the British developed huge cane plantations, importing millions of Africans as slaves to harvest the fields and process the cane. This form of capitalism turned the luxury of sugar into a necessity for millions of Britons. Adam Smith, the so-called father of capitalism, author of Wealth of Nations and ideologue of the “invisible hand,” thought it would all work out well in the end, and that the empire would preserve “liberty.” Sounds familiar?