Who discovered indigo?

Answer 1

When she was 16 her father sent her some indigo seeds to experiment with.In about 3 years she was able to grow an Indigo plant the produced an excellent blue die.She gave away some of her seeds and in a few years South Carolina(were she lives)planters were selling 1 million pounds of indigo each year to clothing makers in Europe.

Answer 2

There are 2 separate sources of Indigo. One source is from a plant called Indigofera tinctoria. A purple dye is extracted from the leaves and used to dye cloth.

The other source is from a Shellfish called Murex trunculus.

In the 18th century a man called Friedrich Schiller, a trader, whom made a fortune importing and selling the Indigo plant, used his wealth to research and discover the ancient city of Troy. He excavated deep into a hillside and rescued the gold treasures and gold jewellery, of the King of Priam. Centuries earlier, the Phoenicians accidentally discovered Indigo. A dog biting into a shell fish found on the shore of the Meditteranian, was seen to have deep purple colour on its tongue and mouth. They kept the source of this purple dye, a secret for a century or so, and developed a process of dying cloth with this purple extract from the body of the shellfish. They dyed silk fabric for the Chinese traders travelling on the famous 'Silk Road' trade route. Eventually the Chinese discovered where this dye came from, and how to use it to dye fabric. By special techniques it is possible to obtain colours, other than purple from this shellfish. Yellows and (Ithink) even reds can be produced using special treatment techniques .