The sugar revolutions are both cause and consequence of the demographic revolution.

Sugar production requires a greater labor supply than is available through the importation of European servants and irregularly supplied enslaved Africans.

At first the Dutch supply the slaves, as well as the credit, capital, technological expertise, and marketing arrangements.

After the restoration of the English monarchy following the Commonwealth (1649-60), the king and other members of the royal family invest in the Company of Royal Adventurers, chartered in 1663, to pursue the lucrative trade in enslaved Africans.

This company is succeeded by the Royal Africa Company in 1672, but the supply still fails to meet the demand, and all kinds of private traders entered the transatlantic commerce.