Read the passage and study the map from Sugar Changed the World.
A map of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The United notes is east of the Mississippi River, the Louisiana Purchase territory west of the river, and New Spain on the west coast and southwest region of North America.
When the Haitians defeated the French armies, Napoleon lost control of the world's most productive sugar islands and with it his dream of great sugar profits. As a result, Napoleon had no use for the land in North America he had so recently obtained from Spain. Napoleon did, though, need money to pay for his wars. That is why he sold the vast Louisiana Territory to Jefferson for the bargain price of just fifteen million dollars. What textbooks call the Louisiana Purchase should really be named the Sugar Purchase. Americans obtained the middle part of what would become their nation because the Haitians achieved their freedom. But, paradoxically, that gave Haitian slave owners a new home.
As sugar planters fled from the revolution in Haiti, some moved to Cuba's Oriente Province, others to North America—to Louisiana.
How does the map help develop the central idea that the Louisiana Purchase had profound effects on sugar and the United States?
The map illustrates the spread of sugar plantations from Haiti to the Louisiana Territory.
The map clarifies how the Louisiana Purchase eventually became part of the United States.
The map illustrates the size of the Louisiana Purchase and suggests its economic potential.
The map clarifies that the Louisiana Territory was large enough to be sold for more money.