Indigo
INDIGO
Indigo is a deep blue dye used to color cotton, wool, and other textiles. Today it is manufactured synthetically, but in earlier times it was derived from the indigo plant, a member of the legume family. The plant was chiefly grown in India (hence its name). In the Caribbean indigo was cultivated by European colonists. During the 1600s it was a principle item of export from the region. In the United States the indigo plant was cultivated in the low country of South Carolina and Georgia beginning in 1741. It was introduced by Elizabeth Lucas Pinckney (1722–93), the daughter of a plantation owner whose family later figured prominently in American politics. Pinckney had brought the plant with her from the Caribbean island of Antigua, where she had lived. Since indigo is a labor-intensive crop, plantations required numerous slaves to cultivate the plant. Growers sold indigo overseas to be used in the European dyestuffs industry. By the 1760s indigo had become an important crop for the southern plantation owners—its export value was on a par with rice and wheat. It continued to be grown in the region until the American Civil War (1861–65). Synthetic indigo was produced in 1880, and it was first used commercially in 1897. This launched a synthetic dye industry that completely eliminated the need for the dye to be derived from plants.
See also: Plantations, Triangular Trade