Pieces of Indigo Dye Drying in the Shade

The color of the sea and the sky, indigo has forever been attached with the country of it's origin. The name Indigo itself is quite a clear indication of that. It being derived from the Greek word ‘indikon’, meaning ‘from India’. Indigo cultivation is thought to have existed in the Indus Valley (present-day Pakistan and northwest India) more than 5,000 years ago. This knowledge of extracting blue color from green leaves of indigo was closely guarded within the families. It was processed and dried into hard blocks before being sent off on trade routes across Europe, where people devoid of the knowledge of how it was prepared, would think of Indigo as a mineral.