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Fun fact - the blue in woad is indigo, and indigo was once banned in parts of Europe to protect the local Woad industry once it became clear indigo is just a be
by vikramkr 6y ago
Fun fact - the blue in woad is indigo, and indigo was once banned in parts of Europe to protect the local Woad industry once it became clear indigo is just a better source of the dye. Little bit of fun old timey trade war/protectionism stuff.
- 082349872349872 6y agoAnother fun fact: one can reasonably guess a high order bit for the age of a country by the colours used in its flag. Before chemical dyes, blue and red were the only lightfast possibilities. (hence the "orange" in https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Flag_of_the_Netherlands.svg/langfr-450px-Flag_of_the_Netherlands.svg.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Fl... )
- vikramkr 6y agoOoh, I never tied that to flag colors, thats super cool. Indigos and I assume anthraquinone dyes for the reds. Though I think with some "younger" countries like India that have oranges on their flag, saffron/mangowood yellow and other orange colors have enough cultural significance that it doesnt seem out of the question for an empire in the region with the resources for war elephants to decide to use a saffron flag that they keep re-dying as needed