Essay On Indigo

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Natural Indigo Indigo was a natural organic dye which was extracted from a different variety of plants. Mostly, indigo dye was derived from the plant Indigofera; Indigofera tinctoria and Indigofera suffruticosa are most commonly used. Some other common plants would be woad and polygonum. The plants contain small percentage of the actual dye content in their leaves so a lot of plants are required to produce the dye. India was the earliest place where Indigo was produced and processed but the plant was also found in other Asian countries. Approximately 5000-6000 years ago in India, East Asia, and Egypt, indigo was known to color fabrics in a deep blue color. It was also shipped to Ancient Greece and Rome where it was considered as a luxury product. The name of this dye come from a Roman term indicum which means product from India. The oldest indigo colored textile of around 6200 years old, was identified in Peru. Before we knew about this, …show more content…

It was a luxury item for them. In Japan, it was used to dye cotton as it was easier to dye cotton with indigo. In the 18th century the Native Americans used it as a way to darken their hair. In ancient times, it was used to dye wool, quilts, handmade items and different fabrics. Nowadays, the main use of indigo is to dye cotton yarn for jeans. It is also used as hair dye. Indigo can dye many materials like cotton, silk, feathers, basket canes, leather and more. In India, indigo is used as medicines to cure many different illnesses. There has been studies to support these uses. Some early studies show that the alcohol from the stems of the indigo leaves protect liver from chemicals like carbon tetrachloride. In china, it has been used to relieve pain and also for fever. Ancient Romans and Egyptians used it heal wounds. There have been many different uses of Indigo over the 6000

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