In the past, it was the drink of brigands, pirates, smugglers and slave traders and was a major contraband for centuries. Rum was probably brought to Europe by the Arabs. In Spain, the Moors had huge sugar cane plantations and Christopher Columbus, on his second voyage, brought the seedlings to Cuba where they adapted very well to the climate there. Slaves who worked on the plantations contributed to rum production by discovering that molasses, a by-product of sugar refining, could be fermented into alcohol.
