Question

The demand for indigo increased in late eighteenth-century Britain because of __________.

Answer 1

Answer: The answer is cloth dyes.

• The demand for Indian indigo grew enormously by the end of the eighteenth century.
• Demand for cloth dyes massively increased demand for indigo. There was massive expansion of cotton production, due to industrialisation in Britain.
• For different reasons, the supply of indigo to Britain from America and the West Indies collapsed.
• Across the world, the production of indigo was reduced by half, between 1783 and 1789.
• A dye from the woad produced a dull and pale colour whereas a rich blue color was produced by the Indigo. Hence Indigo was preferred as a dye by the cloth dyers.
• Hence, Britain desperately needed new sources for the supply of Indigo.
• The East India Company tried various means to increase the cultivation of indigo in India.
• In the last 18th century the global indigo market was dominated by Indigo cultivated in Bengal.
• 95 percent of indigo imported into Britain was from India in 1810, whereas in 1788 the import of Indian indigo into Britain was just around 30 percent.