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The Growth and Decline of Indigo Production in Colonial Brazil: A Study in Comparative Economic History

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  • Alden, Dauril

Abstract

Not long ago an authority on dyeing observed that “in the history of the dyeing industry indigo holds a unique place by reason of its irresistible rise to supremacy among dyestuffs and its equally rapid dethronement by the modern chemical colors. …†Among the sources of this once flourishing industry, one that has never been studied adequately is that of colonial Brazil. Commercial indigo production began there in the early 1760's, but after an impressive start the industry disappeared within less than two generations. Its beginnings occurred at a time when Portugal, like other imperial powers of that era, was seeking to diversify the agriculture of her colonies so as to make them more lucrative to the mother country. A study of the industry's brief tenure in Portugal's most important colony reveals some of the problems that confronted its planters, merchants, and royal officials as they attempted, with limited experience and inadequate supporting capital, to develop new sources of income during a period of keen international economic rivalry. The factors involved in the rise and decline of the Brazilian indigo industry can best be appreciated when it is examined as part of the global history of indigo production and trade between the late fifteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Suggested Citation

  • Alden, Dauril, 1965. "The Growth and Decline of Indigo Production in Colonial Brazil: A Study in Comparative Economic History," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 25(1), pages 35-60, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:25:y:1965:i:01:p:35-60_06
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    Cited by:

    1. R. C. Nash, 2010. "South Carolina indigo, European textiles, and the British Atlantic economy in the eighteenth century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 63(2), pages 362-392, May.
    2. Stefan Gerlach & Rebecca Stuart, 2021. "Commodity Prices and Global Inflation, 1851-1913," IRENE Working Papers 21-07, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.

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