Section 2 of 5
The economy the land was made to serve
Sugar, bananas, and what came after.
The crop that set the demography
The sugar plantation economy determined who was brought to each island and in what numbers, which is why the population map still reads as an economic map.
A trade dispute that reshaped island economies
The banana trade preferences and the WTO disputes of the 1990s removed the guaranteed market several small islands had been built around.
What replaces an export monoculture
Tourism, offshore services and remittances took the place of agriculture unevenly, and the islands that had mountains had more options.