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Book: Chocolate Islands: Cocoa, Slavery & Colonial Africa (Catherine Higgs, 2012.)

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Pedrocut

Master Barmmie
Richard and George Cadbury took over the firm in 1861 and started to invest in cocoa.

1901 William Cadbury read a brochure about the sale of a cocoa plantation on the Portuguese Island of São Tomé and Príncipe, which included in the sale were 200 black labourers. William Cadbury had heard rumours of slave labour in Angola where the labourers were recruited. Cadbury Bros had been importing cocoa from the islands since 1886 and at the time about 55% of its cocoa came from São Tomé and Príncipe, the third largest exporter of cocoa after Equator and Brazil.

Cadbury employed a fellow Quaker, Joseph Burtt, to travel to the islands and also Angola, Moçambique and the Transvaal. He also made two visits himself. In 1909 Cadbury Cadbury announced a boycott on cocoa from São Tomé and Príncipe. He convinced other British and American chocolate companies to join him. Cadbury Brothers and many other chocolate firms moved cocoa supply to the Gold Coast (Ghana) which had better labour conditions and even a higher quality cocoa product.

This book traces the journey made by Burtt and the events around that time.
 
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