The Frontier of Hell: Sicily, Sulfur, and the Rise of the British Chemical Industry, 1750–1840

Abstract

Sicilian sulfur was an important commodity for the Industrial Revolution (1750–1840). It was used for the finishing of textiles: Innovations in finishing were essential for the textile industry so that the productivity increases in spinning and weaving as well as in cotton plantations did not encounter a bottleneck. Eventually, it gave occasion to a spin-off, the chemical industry as a separate branch of production. These developments rested on the appropriation of uncommodified labor force and nature in Sicily. Such processes unfolded in a trajectory determined by value relations, in which the investment in fixed capital in Britain was tied to the supply of cheap circulating capital (raw material) in the commodity frontier. When necessary to guarantee the supply of cheap sulfur against price and supply regulation, the British mobilized their Royal Navy. It is argued that the Sicilian frontier should be incorporated into the history of the Industrial Revolution.