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Seeing Red: Cochineal’s Long-lasting Charm

Serena Uliano

The hunt for a perfect red in the early modern world was intense. For hundreds of years, worldwide, nobles and commoners alike dreamed of finding something that could represent their emotions and values, express their status, and depict significant events all in one. In their pursuit, they stumbled upon cochineal, a rich red dye. How the shade of red that the people pursued varied depending on the culture considered, with some deeming this red more of a crimson hue, while others believed it to be scarlet. Regardless of the shade on the red spectrum, the dye many wanted was one capable of producing a brilliant red.

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It was not until Spanish conquistadors in 1519 found cochineal (grana cochinilla), the source of one of the brightest reds, that the intrigue and zeal surrounding it began and quickly intensified. Spaniards first saw cochineal in Mexico’s marketplaces where natives were selling it as a dye. With its production center in Mexico, cochineal became a highly regarded commodity for about the next three hundred years, entering the international scene and dominating trade and markets globally, as widely recognized source of one of the most coveted reds.

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Mexican cochineal rose to fame slowly throughout the early sixteenth century. It first entered Spain in small amounts during the 1520s, but soon gained favor and spread across Europe. During this time, the luxury textile industry in Europe boomed, and the desire for cochineal increased. Subsequently, these European markets became entwined with Mexican cochineal, expanding the dye’s trade worldwide. Most of the Mexican cochineal gathered in Veracruz from the Mexican countryside in Oaxaca and was then shipped to Seville and Cadiz in Spain, which redistributed the commodity across the world, particularly in Europe and Asia. In Europe, the places where cochineal was most coveted included Segovia in Spain; Suffolk in England; Lyons and Rouen in France; Malines and Bruges in Flanders (Belgium); Florence, Genoa, Livorno, Milan, and Venice in Italy. In Asia, Manila in the Philippines, connected with Mexico via the Spanish trading ships—the Manila Galleon—from Acapulco, Mexico, was the main destination for Mexican cochineal. While cochineal trade in the sixteenth century thrived, it plateaued in the early seventeenth century but remained constant and improved during the 1750s into the 1850s.


Much of cochineal’s success came from Mexican Indian peasants’ diligence in the region ​

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Indian peasant laborers harvesting cochineal. Greenfield,  A Perfect Red (p. 377).

of Oaxaca, located in southwestern Mexico. Producing the dyestuff required a large labor force to complete the painstaking process of collecting the cochineal, which came from an insect living on the nopal plant. Thus, most cochineal production turned to Oaxaca in the late sixteenth century. This area contained a high volume of Mexican Indian peasants available to complete the necessary rigorous labor and produce large quantities of cochineal.

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Dutch naturalist Antoni van Leeuwenhoek’s intricate illustration of cochineal insects from 1704. Greenfield, A Perfect Red (p. 379).

There were primarily two cochineal production methods to obtain the final dye product, grana cochinilla. One technique began with Mexican Indian peasants first tending to cochineal insects on nopal cacti, plentiful in central and southern Mexico, where cochineal insects flourished. Then, laborers used hot water to kill the insects and later dried them. As a result of this process, the dried insects acquired a red-brown color. The other method involved allowing the cochineal insects to bake under the sun, producing a silver color, or baking them in ovens or pans, leaving the grains with a black hue. Once dried, producers packed the grains into “bricks” (zurrones) of dyestuff, ready for shipment.

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To keep the Indian peasants in Oaxaca engaged in cochineal cultivation, Spanish colonial authorities instituted an incentive system, the repartimiento, that required indigenous people to plant nopal cacti and collect cochineal as a way to fulfill their tributary obligations to the Spanish crown. This structure involved Spanish colonial officials, Mexico City and Oaxaca merchants, local bureaucrats (alcaldes mayores), and peasants. The system began with Mexico City merchants providing funds to Oaxaca merchants, who then supplied the funds to local bureaucrats in Oaxaca areas that produced cochineal. These local bureaucrats would lend money to peasants in exchange for their labor on the cochineal-producing nopal cacti. Since the peasants had to pay tribute to the crown, the repartimiento system required them to pay using cochineal rather than money, allowing them to save their money and use it for personal needs instead.

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Although complex, the repartimiento system in Oaxaca satisfied all involved while fulfilling cochineal demand. Furthermore, producing cochineal gave the Indian peasants agency. They oversaw each step in cochineal production, from harvesting the insects to producing the dye, enabling them to earn their own incomes and make decisions, as long as they continue paying their tribute. The repartimiento system was more than just a way to boost cochineal production; it became a way for peasants to maintain their strength and livelihoods.

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The production of cochineal waned in the nineteenth century. Once Mexico gained its independence in 1821, the Spanish monopoly on cochineal ended and cochineal production began to arrive to other areas of the world. However, the introduction of synthetic dyes into the market in the mid-nineteenth century resulted in cochineal’s decline. Despite its eventual fate, during its height, cochineal’s commodity chain reveals how multiple levels of society, from merchant bankers to colonial officials to Indian peasants, became entwined with cochineal production and trade. They worked together to ensure that cochineal cultivation and production blossomed and reached the people and places that desired it worldwide, enriching the Early Atlantic World’s relationship to the burgeoning textile industry.

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Rembrandt painting with cochineal dye to accentuate the woman’s dress. Greenfield, A Perfect Red (p. 375).

Bibliography

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  • Bjork, Katharine. “The Link That Kept the Philippines Spanish: Mexican Merchant Interests and the Manila Trade, 1571-1815.” Journal of World History 9, no. 1 (1998): 25-50. Accessed April 20, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20078712.

  • Greenfield, Amy Butler. A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 2006.

  • Topik, Steven, and Carlos Marichal. “Mexican Cochineal and the European Demand for American Dyes, 1550-1850.” In From Silver to Cocaine: Latin American Commodity Chains and the Building of the World Economy, 1500-2000, 76–92. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007.

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