Expanding sugar mills dominated the landscape from Havana to Puerto Príncipe, forcing out small farmers and destroying the island's vast hardwood forests. By 1850, the sugar industry accounted for four-fifths of all exports, and by 1860 Cuba produced nearly a third of the world's sugar output. By the 1800s, Cuban sugar plantations became the world's largest producer of sugar, thanks to the expansion of slavery and continued attention to improving the island's sugar technology. The use of modern refining techniques was particularly important because the British abolished the slave trade in 1807. After 1815, they began forcing other countries to follow suit. Cubans were torn between the profits generated by sugar and a loathing of slavery, which they saw as morally, politically, and racially dangerous to their society. At the end of the 19th century, slavery was abolished. However, before the abolition of slavery, Cuba achieved great prosperity through the sugar trade. The Spanish originally ordered regulations on trade with Cuba, which prevented the island from becoming a dominant sugar producer. The Spanish wanted to protect their trade routes and those of the slave trade. Nevertheless, Cuba's vastness and abundance of natural resources made it an ideal place to become a booming sugar producer. (Lecture) When Spain opened Cuban trading ports, it quickly became a popular country. New technologies have made it possible to develop much more effective and efficient means of sugar production. They began using water mills, closed kilns, and steam engines to produce higher quality sugar at a much more efficient rate than elsewhere in the Caribbean. The rise of the Cuban sugar industry in the 19th century forced Cuba to improve its means of transportation. Necessary, safe and effective planters