Indigo in South Carolina: A Historical Geography

Abstract

Recent geographical studies of the agricultural economy of colonial South Carolina and Georgia have focussed on the rice industry and largely overlooked the contribution and economic role of other agricul- tural activities. (1) Indigo flourished as a staple in South Carolina for less than 50 years, but it contributed to the economic viability of the colonial southeast and the initial movement of the plantation system into the interior. Much has been written about the history of indigo, but little attention has been given the geography of the crop. (2) This paper is a historical geography of indigo and considers where it was grown, how the dye was produced, and how the crop fit into the colonial agri- cultural economy. The study focusses on South Carolina because, al- though indigo was grown from Virginia to Louisiana, South Carolina was by far the major colonial producer and exporter of the dye. INTRODUCTION . Species of Indigofera grow in tropical and sub- tropical climes across the world, and the blue indigo dye has long been produced in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. Through the Middle Ages, Europe relied on the common woad (Isatis tinctoria) as a dye source; but by the sixteenth century, Portuguese and Dutch traders had introduced indigo to the continent. Despite strong opposition from the woad industry cultivation was attempted in Europe, but the plant was later carried to the West Indies where it was well established by the seventeenth century. DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDIGO INDUSTRY IN CAROLINA. Car- olina's proprietors directed their colonists to carry Cotton Seed, Indigo Seed, Ginger Roots with them from the West Indies. (3) The settlers, after locating on the Ashley River in 1670, began experimenting with these plants, but by the end of the century rice had become Carolina's