dec 1, 1600 - Indigo

Description:

Although the indigo plant has been found in many different parts of the world for centuries, the
large-scale cultivation of indigo started in sixteenth-century India. European maritime explorers
like Vasco da Gama opened up direct sea links to India beginning in the late fifteenth century.
Consequently, Portuguese, English, and Dutch traders brought the indigo plant to Europe from
India. By the late 1600s, indigo was being marketed in most European nations. It was exotic, it was superior to the woad plant used in Europe to produce blue dye,
and it helped satisfy the new hunger that Europeans had for items from far corners of the globe.
European consumers wanted indigo-dyed fabrics, paints, and laundry bluing (which made white

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