Mintz states "The Moors were not halted in their outward movement until they reached Poitiers in 732, where Charles Martel turned their flank. That year marked only the hundredth anniversary of the death of Mohammed and of the installation of the first caliph, Abu Bakr.  After 759, the Moors withdrew from Toulouse and southern France and and entrenched themselves behind the Pyrenees; but it would be seven hundred years before the Spain they had conquered in only seven would once again become completely Christian.  Some portions of the Mediterranean world fell to Islam after Spain herself had fallen.  Crete, for instance, was not taken until 823; Malta not until 870.  And wherever they went, the Arabs brought with them sugar, the product and the technology of its production; sugar, we are told, followed the Koran" (25).
I find this statement intriguing, the time frame in of itself as to thinking about the sugar having been cultivated and worked in these areas for such an extended period, to the time when Columbus brought it to the Caribbean.  The mention of Christian, and Mohammed, as we are learning about how religion played and plays a dominate factor in who is in control, and that is to say who has the power.  I think about what different role would sugar be playing in our lives today, had say, the production of sugar moved east?