Most important, working in tandem with Genoese operators, the prince came into ownership of what was probably the first sugar mill of the Atlantic world on the newly conquered island of Madeira; it proved to be both a lucrative investment and a profound harbinger of the future. By the middle of the century, Madeira was producing almost 70 tons of sugar per year, and in 1456 a British ship landing from there provisioned the parlors of Bristol with one of their first supplies of this new luxury commodity. At the time, it was still mostly prized as an exotic medicinal. The Portuguese determined
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