Trapiche

A trapiche is a mill made of wooden rollers used to extract juice from fruit, originally olives, and since the Middle Ages, sugar cane as well. By extension the word is also sometimes applied to the location of the mill, whether the workshop or the entire plantation.

Etymology
The word has its origin in the Latin trapetum that means oil mill. From the Sicilian language trappitu the term, crossing the Mozarab Valencia, with its typical change of termination to «-ig» via the Catalan language (trapig -Gandía, 1536-, trapitz de canyamel -Mallorca, 1466-) has arrived to the other languages of the Iberian peninsula as trapiche''. In the documents of the Duke of Gandía from the beginning of the fifteen century, one can see the term «trapig de canyamel», as a synecdoche to indicate the whole village engenho. According to Herrera: "..es de notar que antiguamente no auuia azucar,ſino en Valencia" ("note that in the old days there was no sugar except in Valencia").

Valencian Country


To the start of the 15th century, Oliva's Count mattered of Sicily the method of caring of the cane and the technical to extract the «sugar» with the aid of sicilians mestres sucrer. A true Galceran of Vic, gentleman of Xeresa built the first trapiche in Gandia. The 1433 count already four and to the end of the century fourteen. To the senyoria of the Monastery of Valldigna saw grow the revenue of his trapiche of 40% between 1434 and 1502. Temptatiues To enter the new culture to Castelló were less successful. The culture of cane was the fact especially of the small nobility and of the bourgeoisie, as the farmers were not very motivated to change lands of orchard in industrial «culture». The companies sucreres go to have to take in lease lands or increase proprietary bourgeoisie to happen to the culture of cane.

To the second half of the 15th century Hug of Cardona and Gandia yielded the monopoly of the exploitation of the sugar to Gandia to the negociants of the Magna Societas Alemannorum of Ravensburg. In the year 1500 the sector gave work to some 500 people and 220 animals. Pier Luigi de Borgia possessed three, and Ausiàs March had one to Beniarjó.

Many factors contributed to the declí of the trapiches and of the industry sucrera to Gandia. To the XVI appeared «the engine», a more efficient and faster team. It continued declining with the increase of the competition of Madeira, of the Canary Islands and of the Antilles that had a climate more idoni. The expulsion of the moriscos the October 4, 1609 was the fatal blow to an industry already in declí. The moriscos were the main cultivadors of cane and the expert labour. Whole villages remained empty. Felip's the decree III of Castella was a disaster for the region and drive the house ducal to the ruin.

The majority of the installations disappeared. Today only remain some vestiges material of ancient trapiches and engines that with the course of the time were reformed and immaterial in the toponymy, for example the Street trapiche to Gandia, the Square trapiche to Miramar and the Career trapiche to Xeresa. In spite of this seems that today a lot of people forgot the past glorious of the industry sucrera to the ducat of Gandia 600 years ago.

At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the Conde Oil imported from Sicily method of cultivation of sugarcane and techniques to extract the "çucre" with the help of teachers Sucrers Sicilians. A certain Galceran Vic, Lord of Xeresa built the first trapig in Gandia. In 1433 it already have four and the end of the fourteenth century. A Member of the Monastery of Valldigna you saw revenue grow trapig its 40% between 1434 and 1502. tentative to introduce a new culture Castellon were less successful. The culture of sugarcane was done mainly by the gentry and the bourgeoisie, such as farmers were not very motivated to change land orchard culture "industrial." Sugar companies had to take land on lease or encourage owners to spend bourgeois culture cane.

In the second half of the fifteenth century Hug de Cardona Gandia and gave a monopoly of the operation of the sugar merchants of Gandia Magna Societas Alemannorum of Ravensburg. Around 1500 the sector employed about 500 people and 220 animals. Pedro Luis de Borja possessed three and Ausiàs March in had a Beniarjó.

Many factors contributed to the decline of the sugar industry and trapigs Gandia. In XVI appeared "ingenuity", a computer faster and more efficient. He continued declining with increased competition from Madeira, the Canary Islands and the Antilles that had a climate more suitable. The expulsion of the Moors on 4 October of 1609 was a fatal blow industry already in decline. The Moors were the main cane growers and labor expert. Whole villages were empty. The decree of Philip III of Spain was a disaster for the region and lead to ruin the ducal house.

Most facilities disappeared. Today there are only a few vestiges of old materials and trapigs Ingen with the course of time were reformed and intangible assets in the names, for example Trapig Street Gandia, Trapig Plaza in Miramar and Carrera Trapig in Xeresa. However it seems that today many people forget the glorious past of the sugar industry in the duchy of Gandia 600 years ago.

Canarian precedents
In the late 15th century, the horizontal two-roller engenho or trapiche transferred seamlessly from the Portuguese in the Madeira Islands to the Canary Islands just as the Castilians, still struggled to control the Guanches, the rebellious indigenous Canarians. They were, in fact, the first coerced workers of the fledgling sugar industry on these islands. As the Iberians colonized the archipelagos off the coast of West Africa they relocated here most of the Mediterranean agricultural industry making of these islands the center of technological advancement in the Atlantic World. And in a matter of two decades after Christopher Columbus touched down on the Bahamas, just across the ocean, the trapiche followed European colonists to the Caribbean. The first stop was the island of Hispaniola.

Hispaniola (Santo Domingo)
The trapiche's arrival to the Caribbean coincided with three crucial events in the early history of the Americas. They were the dramatic decline of the indigenous population, the arrival of the first enslaved Africans to the Americas and the sudden drop in the production of gold. While large numbers of colonists sought to escape the ensuing desolation and migrated to settle and desolate in turn other territories, those who stayed on Hispaniola turned to the sugar industry hustled at first by a mixture of enslaved indigenous people and Africans (ladinos and bozales). In a few more years, as the indigenous population retrieved, enslaved Blacks made up the bulk if not all of the coerced workers. With the promise of personal wealth implied in the system of slavery and with the advice of Canarian experts colonists began establishing some types of engenhos as early as 1514. According to Cronistas de Indias (Chroniclers of the Indies), Bartolomé de las Casas and Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, it was Gonzales de Veloso (also, Gonzalez Veloso and Gonzalo de Vellosa) who built in what today is San Cristobal the first two-roller trapiche pulled by horses on Hispaniola. From there, it turned up on the Island of San Juan Bautista (Puerto Rico) and later in Cuba.

Three rollers
Though most current examples of trapiches in the Spanish Caribbean are of the three-rollers, according to scholar Anthony R. Stevens-Acevedo, the horizontal two-roller trapiche was the type used in the Caribbean throughout the end of the 16th century. As this piece of technology moved south to Tierra Firme (South America), the trapiche not only acquired a new roller, but it also erected all three of them to become a more efficient instrument of the expanding sugar industry. In this more elaborate shape, it soon returned to the Caribbean as the backbone of the sugar engenho.

Sugar cane industry
Nowadays, the majority of the ingenios in Argentina or (engenhos in Brazil), use a trapiche to grind the sugarcane and extract its juice. They used water vapor as a driving force for mechanisms. In Latin America one can see small and transportable "street trapiches" handled by just one person. They can be installed almost anywhere to produce fresh cane juice. Its manufacture is artisanal, having even wooden gears.

Mining environment
In Argentina, Bolivia and Chile the term also applies to a type of mill used to reduce different kinds of minerals to dust. In the seventeenth century, these facilities and the raw material (ore, wages, the lease of the site and water, buildings ...) needed a considerable investment, the major part of it held by wealthy colonial elite.

Among the general mechanisms by which the Chilean economic life developed in the Colony, the trapiches were a highly profitable investment. On the other hand, the perception of metals as means of payment for its use, offered a source of profitability, as they were connected to the commercial circuit of gold but outside the margins of local production centers.

Outside South America this type of mill might be known as Chilean mill.