An Abandoned Sugar Mill, Cuba

Sugar production was an important industry for Cuba since its introduction as a crop in the early 16th Century.  At its peak there were around 50 mills operating in the Valle de Los Ingenios region near to Trinidad.  The industry was heavily dependent on slave labour with 30,000 African slaves working the plantations at its peak.  With the abolition of slavery and the rise of the industrial era, the processes for refining the sugar changes; this photo series is of one of the abandoned mills.