Trade centres · pre-1822 and continuing
Indigo and dyeing
Fermented indigo vats, camwood red and kola brown: a chemistry practised by women across the region.
Biography
Indigo dyeing required a fermentation vat kept alive over weeks with wood ash lye and repeated feeding — a controlled chemical process with a vocabulary, a schedule and specialists who guarded it.
Camwood ground to powder gave red for cosmetics, medicine and cloth; kola and mangrove bark gave browns and blacks. Dyers were usually women and often organised in their own associations.
Historical significance
Applied chemistry, held and transmitted by women, in societies described in the colonial record as technologically static.
Timeline
- pre-1500Indigo cultivation and vat dyeing established
- 17th c.Camwood becomes a major coastal export to Europe
- 19th c.Synthetic dyes begin to displace the trade
Related entries
References
- Rodney, Walter (1970). A History of the Upper Guinea Coast.
- Johnston, Harry (1906). Liberia.
Suggested reading
- Rodney (1970).