Rum in History- June

June Throughout the Years:

1509- Ponce de León seizes control of  Puerto Rico, making himself governor.  Portuguese explorer Diego Alvaros Correa founds the first European settlement in Brazil near Porto Seguro.

1544- Northern Europe suffers a honey shortage as a result of the breakup of monasteries by the Reformation.  The decline in honeybee colonies creates a growing need for cheap sugar, but sugar wil remain a luxury for more than a century.

1647-  Richard Ligon, a Royalist refugee from the English Civil war, arrives in Barbados, and in 1650 writes History of the Island of Barbados.  He was one of the earliest to write about rum, or "kill devil," as it was known.

1694-  French Churchman Pere LaBat arrives in St. Pierre, Martinique.  He leads construction of windmills and improves distillation techniques.  Because of these significant innovations for the island a distillery is named after him today.

1831- The general issue of beer to the Royal Navy fleet is officially discontinued.  Beer is replaced by rum, which takes less space, keeps well in long journeys and is favored by the Admiralty.

1842- France has nearly 60 sugar beet factories producing two pounds of sugar per capita annually.

1851-  The first U.S. state prohibition law is voted in Maine where the mayor of Portland, Neal Dow, 47, has drafted the law, submitted it to the state legislature, and campaigned for its passage.