When I think of rum, I think of pirates. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, right? And when I think of pirates, I think of treasure chests full of gold, silver, precious gems, buried treasure. The rum seems recreational, dastardly, debaucherous, trivial. The treasure, now that’s serious. That’s the job. There’s no messing around with the treasure. But, did know, for many in the business of maritime trade and, yes even piracy, the rum was the treasure? Did you know that rum, while likely started by enslaved Africans, later became the currency with which they were bought and sold? And did you know that rum was such a valuable commodity in colonial America, it helped open the door to the American Revolution, changing the world forever? Let’s fix that.     

www.historyfixpodcast.com

Be sure to check out:

• Outer Banks Distilling 
• "Caribbean Rum: A Social and Economic History" by Dr. Frederick H. Smith

Other sources:

• Food and Wine Magazine "9 Things You Should Know About the Dark and Stormy History of Rum"
• Encyclopedia Britannica "Rum"
• Got Rum Magazine "The Dark Side of Rum"
• Smithsonian National Museum of American History "Rum"
• ZME Science "Sugarcane, slaves, empire-toppling - the story of rum"
• University of Oxford "How England became the 'sweet shop of Europe'"

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