History of Indigo

[Geowu]

http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/history/hs_es_indigo.htm

Natural indigo works as an insect repellent. Not sure if synthetic indigo has the same property?

[jdavis]

A very comprehensive article no doubt, however its premise that ‘true indigo comes from plants belonging to the legume genus Indigofera’ seems general.

When modern plant classification was founded in the mid-1700’s (Carl Linneaus), the genus ‘Indigofera’ was named as such because the member species provided MOST of the known trade indigos. In this way botanical classification can be confusing…

There are MANY other indigo-producing species that are not Indigoferas - perhaps the most distinguished being Polygonum Tinctorium, also known as Japanese or Chinese Indigo. The Indigoferas steal the limelight only because they comprise the largest indigo-bearing genus of over 800 species. Indigo has also been found in certain sea animals – as shown by the ‘Tyrian Purple’ dye prized during and prior to antiquity.

For supporting material try some of the article’s listed sources.

I thought the article really framed the history of the colonial indigo trade, the role of slaves in indigo production, and of course the rise of indigo as a modern commodity.

[Geowu]

sorry, the information is really quite general.

Tyrian Purple: has anyone tried to synthetise it and make jeans with it?

[jdavis]

Quote:

sorry, the information is really quite general.

Tyrian Purple: has anyone tried to synthetise it and make jeans with it?

--- Original message by Geowu on Oct 3, 2005 08:37 PM

No please i didn't mean it like that at all! Thank you for posting it. I really did enjoy reading it - pehaps so much that i wanted to add...

'Tyrian Purple: has anyone tried to synthetise it and make jeans with it?'

Its been synthesised, but other than that I don't know too much about it to be honest. I wouldn't think thats its been adapted for jeansware. And I certainly don't know how it compares to modern indigo dyestuffs.

Historically it was suppossed to be pretty good though, of such high quality that it was reserved only for the emperors of Rome. And it was worth many times its weight in gold. But who knows how that would compare to a dip in a contemporay synthetic dye vat. Who knows..

Edited by jdavis on Oct 4, 2005 at 05:08 AM

Edited by jdavis on Oct 4, 2005 at 05:10 AM