From the ancient time people were interested in the power the colour had on our mood and consciousness. It’s a common fact, that red colour is one of the most influential ones of the colour pallet. From the old times red served for the clothes of people who belonged to upper class and was a symbol or wealth and nobility. In this way, red colour had not only psychological impact and social importance, but also high economical value with the direct financial equivalent.
The Spanish made a great breakthrough after discovering the secret of “true red”. When conquistadors invaded Mexico, they could not first believe their eyes when saw their clothes made of materials, dyed in perfectly red colour. Native settlers – Aztecs possessed the secret of the producing of this colour and also praised it, by the way. Soon the secret of production was uncovered. The red was produced with the help of cochineal – a substance achieved from the insects which inhabited only that part of the world. These tiny insects of unknown origin (scientists spent a lot of time, debating if they were insects at all and creating of the microscope is partially explained by the necessity to uncover this enigma) could survive eating only special kinds of host plant, the nopal. As soon as the secret of the dye production was discovered, the Spanish made sure to monopolise this profitable secret, making it the prerogative of the Spanish Empire. Very quickly Spain became the dominant exporter of the red dye to Europe. Europe dyers and manufacturers had to follow conditions of Spanish tradespeoples, who posses an absolute monopoly on the cochineal production. Then Amy retells the story of struggle – struggle for the commercial secret of cochineal production, which’s kept Spain’s monopoly to this dye in the whole world. Greenfield states that this fact influenced the international trade and politics for centuries and proves her thesis with many arguments. I think that this book contains interesting and important facts from business history as it partially explains the reasons of prosperity of Spain during several centuries. “The story that Butler Greenfield tells rests on an impressive mountain of scholarship that is hidden from the reader by wavy prose that carry us effortlessly between the colonial European powers and the locales in the West Indies and the Spanish Main where the cochineal beetle was cultivated” (Liss). The story is also interested because it contains the depiction of the methods, business rivals used to uncover the secret of “mysterious dye”. Commercial espionage, private investigations, bribes and graft – all the mean were used by the rivals. Even scientists were involved into this international intrigue, as they had to guess the origin of the black “seeds” – cochineal imported from Mexico. Pirates’ attacks add to the picture of “red gold” popularisation all over the world. Pirates watched Spanish ships loaded with cochineal and robbed them. It was an object of additional national pride for British privateers to bring home mysterious red dye from the robbed Spanish ships. European countries, dependant on Spain were looking for alternative ways to achieve the dye in order to get rid of “shameful” dependence from Spain. Finally, the invention of the synthetic red dye at the end of 19the century brought to end Spanish domination on the market of dye production. After this invention, multiple farms specialised on the cochineal production became bankrupts as the technology of cochineal production was time-consuming and expansive and couldn’t stand the competition with the synthetic production. It was a hard blow for the owners of small farms in Guatemala, Mexico and Canary Islands that had to close their farms as there was no need in cochineal production any more. It’s a typical situation when changes in an important industry lead to major social and economic disruption. Modern trade practices often have similar effects in many poorer countries. I think that facts, which show how technical development and innovations can influence business, economy, and even the political structure of the world, are very interesting and edifying.