How did the demand of sugarcane shape Caribbean Island culture?

The cultivation of sugarcane in the Caribbean began in the mid-17th century. Almost immediately, it drastically changed the population and culture of many islands. Growing, harvesting, and milling sugar cane is a very labor-intensive process. In order to meet the high demand for sugar in Western Europe, vast numbers of enslaved Africans were brought to the Caribbean. Before the islands began cultivating sugarcane, the majority of the inhabitants in the Caribbean were white colonists. Soon afterward, the vast majority were African slaves working on large plantations.
The British islands of Barbados, Antigua, Nevis, and Jamaica saw some of the largest sugarcane production. The difficult and harsh process of harvesting and processing sugarcane was conducted almost entirely by slaves. As many as three million enslaved Africans were brought to these islands from the latter part of the 17th century through the 18th century. By the time sugarcane production was in full swing in the early 1700s, the slave population of the British West Indies made up about 80% of the total population of the islands.
Of course, slaves in the Caribbean had a harsh and often short life. Working conditions were brutal, and disease was rampant. Mortality rates were high, with few slaves living more than a decade or two after coming to the Caribbean from Africa. This meant that new slaves from Africa needed to be constantly brought in to the West Indies in order to maintain a stable workforce.
As a result of the importation of slaves to work the Caribbean sugarcane industry, the culture of the islands was heavily dominated by aspects of West African culture. Enslaved Africans integrated their old religions, arts, and language with that of their slave masters. As a result, a creole culture, or fusion of different African and European cultures, developed on many Caribbean islands.