Born in 1694 – Voltaire, French historian, playwright, and philosopher.

In Voltaire’s Candide, the title character encounters an African slave in Surinam: “When we work at the sugar-canes, and the mill snatches hold of a finger, they cut off the hand; and when we attempt to run away, they cut off the leg; both cases have happened to me. This is the price at which you eat sugar in Europe.”

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Above: A 1787 illustration of Candide meeting a maimed slave of the sugar mill in Suriname