![]() India probably cultivated the original commercial supply of Old World indigo that worked it’s way around the European trade routes during the Greco-Roman era. The word “indigo” itself comes from the Ancient Greek word indikon - which means “Indian dye.” The so-called “blue gold” was culturally important and highly desired throughout Europe, Japan, and West Africa, before eventually making its way to the American colonies, where its cultivation and trade helped fund the Revolutionary War effort. Then, around the turn of 20th century synthetic indigo dye came on scene and decimated the natural dye market. Eventually the liquid was drained, mixed with lye, molded into cakes, dried, and pounded into powder. Dyers would then mix that powder with water and other substances in soaking vats to get the exact purpley-blue shade they wanted. To create the dye, people crushed the plant’s leaves and let them ferment in water over a period of time. The indigo craze probably even influenced Newton’s original color wheel. But most color specialists no longer include indigo in their rainbows, because the truth is: it isn’t much different from plain old blue. You can make natural blue dyes from a number of plants, but the deepest, richest, and most long-lasting bluer-than-blue indigo dye comes from the leaves of various tropical and subtropical shrubby plants in the Indigofera genus. Which probably explains where the genus gets its name. And while modern synthetic dyes have made this deep blue a common color, it wasn’t always so. In fact, for centuries, in part because of its rarity, people across cultures and religions went totally bonkers for indigo. Demand for this color sparked trade wars, fueled Trans-Atlantic slavery - and for a time, the dye was actually used as straight-up currency. With so many jeans walking about today, it’s easy to forget that their classic indigo color is actually rare in nature. Hank: Look down at your lap. You wearing jeans? Even if you’re currently in sweatpants, I’m willing to bet that you’ve got a few pairs of denim jeans nearby, right? Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? Like SciShow? Want to help support us, and also get things to put on your walls, cover your torso and hold your liquids? Check out our awesome products over at DFTBA Records: Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: ĭooblydoo thanks go to the following Patreon supporters - we couldn't make SciShow without them! Shout out to Justin Ove, Accalia Elementia, Kathy & Tim Philip, Kevin Bealer, Justin Lentz, Fatima Iqbal, Thomas J., Chris Peters, Tim Curwick, Lucy McGlasson, Andreas Heydeck, Will and Sonja Marple, Mark Terrio-Cameron, Charles George, Christopher Collins, and Patrick D. In Newton’s “octave” of colors, orange and indigo are placed at the half steps, between E and F and between B and C.Indigo may be a very vague and unnecessary color, but it has an interesting history that involves some plants, turmoil, and Isaac Newton's interest in the number seven. ![]() So why did Newton add the tertiary color Indigo? Newton might have included indigo as a 7th color because he wanted to match the colors in the rainbow to the notes in a Dorian scale of music. With the two new additions, we were given ROYGBIV. In his words: “The originall or primary colours are Red, yellow, Green, Blew, & a violet purple together with Orang, Indico, & an indefinite varietie of intermediate gradations.” Of these widely accepted seven colors, three are primary (red, yellow and blue) three are secondary (green, orange and violet) and only one is tertiary (hello indigo). ![]() Then, 10 years later, in his revision Lectiones Opticae of 1675 he added two new colors: Orange and Indigo. Newton’s original idea of the simplified color wheel (sometime around 1665) was just 5 colors: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple. There have been many attempts to simplify and organize the color spectrum, but the most well known arrangement was Sir Isaac Newton’s color wheel, as he observed white light divided by a prism. This, I’m certain, is the fault of Gay Pride, Pink Floyd, and Sparkle Pony. The new standard rainbow of colors is ROYGBV. You’ve probably seen it, but if someone asked you to paint a rainbow, you probably wouldn’t paint it this way. This rainbow follows the ROYGBIV (Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet) system.
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