Indigo Plantation: Difference between revisions

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==External links==
==External links==
===Historical books online===
===Historical books online===
*[https://archive.org/stream/residencechinese00fort#page/440/mode/2up  "List of Members of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India at 31 December 1854"] Contain a number of indigo planters and their location. Archive.org.  (This list is located at the back of the book file for  [https://archive.org/details/residencechinese00fort ''A residence among the Chinese 
inland, on the coast, and at sea. Being a narrative of scenes and adventures during a third visit to China, from 1853 to 1856''] by Robert Fortune 1857 Archive.org)
*[http://books.google.com/books?id=lJIIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PP5  ''Papers relating to the cultivation of indigo in the Presidency of Bengal''] 1860 Google Books
*[http://books.google.com/books?id=lJIIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PP5  ''Papers relating to the cultivation of indigo in the Presidency of Bengal''] 1860 Google Books
*[http://books.google.com/books?id=NlIEAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA345  ''Selections from the Records of the Government of Bengal No 33 part 2: Papers relating to indigo cultivation in Bengal, Volume 2''] 1860 Google Books
*[http://books.google.com/books?id=NlIEAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA345  ''Selections from the Records of the Government of Bengal No 33 part 2: Papers relating to indigo cultivation in Bengal, Volume 2''] 1860 Google Books

Revision as of 06:57, 13 February 2014

Before the Portuguese, who were the first Europeans in India, traded with India there was extensive trading for centuries by the Arabs between the west coast of India and southern Europe. The Indigo plant or dye was one of the items of trade.

These dyes - brilliant purple and reds - were very expensive and only the Roman Emperors and the very wealthy could afford them hence the term "the royal purple". The range from deep red to purple to deep blue can be obtained by adjusting the pH (acidity - alkanility) of the solution. It was the Portuguese who gave the dye or plant the name "Indigo" meaning "from the indies". The Arabs called the dye "a-nil" meaning "the blue" - they just used the adjective and left out the noun. "Nil" is blue in Sanskrit as in the Nilgiri Hills in Southern India which translated means the "Blue Hills" as they look blue from the plains due to the combination of mist and heavy rain forest.

In the late 1800's the Germans - and later the British - synthesized these indigo dyes chemically and used the original arab or Sanskrit name in calling them "anilin dyes" which is the term used in chemistry books. Unfortunately the chemical synthesis of these dyes by the Europeans effectively destroyed the indigo industry in India. During World War II in India we couldn't get the synthetic dyes or fabric from England; instead we used Indian fabrics dyed with the Indian indigo dyes.

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