![]() Modern sources place indigo in the electromagnetic spectrum between 420 and 450 nanometers, which lies on the short-wave side of color wheel (RGB) blue, towards (spectral) violet. The Early Modern English word indigo referred to the dye, not to the color (hue) itself, and indigo is not traditionally part of the basic color-naming system. Indigo is one of the colors on Newton's color wheel. Woad was replaced by true indigo as trade routes opened up, and both plant sources have now been largely replaced by synthetic dyes.Ĭlassification as a spectral color For a long time, woad was the main source of blue dye in Europe. īlue dye can be made from two different types of plants: the indigo plant, which produces the best results, and from the woad plant Isatis tinctoria, also known as pastel. Before the Revolutionary War, indigo accounted for more than one-third of the value of exports from the American colonies. In North America, indigo was introduced by Eliza Lucas into colonial South Carolina, where it became the colony's second-most important cash crop (after rice). The English and French subsequently began to encourage indigo cultivation in their colonies in the West Indies. Spanish explorers discovered an American species of indigo and began to cultivate the product in Guatemala. The Ancient Greek term for the dye was Ἰνδικὸν φάρμακον ("Indian dye"), which, adopted to Latin ( second declension case) as indicum or indico and via Portuguese, gave rise to the modern word indigo. It was imported from there in small quantities via the Silk Road. Pliny the Elder mentions India as the source of the dye after which it was named. ![]() The earliest direct evidence for the use of indigo dates to around 4000 BC and comes from Huaca Prieta, in contemporary Peru. Indigofera tinctoria and related species were cultivated in East Asia, Egypt, India, and Peru in antiquity. ![]() Extract of natural indigo applied to paper
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