Indigo in the South Carolina Colony

What is Indigo?

In the 1600s and 1700s, Charleston, South Carolina, was an important port for the trading of rice, tobacco, and indigo. While most people could easily explain the first three products, most have no idea what indigo is, other than a dark blue color.

South Carolina's Secondmost Valuable Crop

Indigo is a dark blue dye that can be made from the "peas" of certain tropical plants. Indigo was used to dye clothes blue. It was very valuable to plantation owners and farmers in South Carolina because it could grow on land that was not suited for tobacco or rice. Indigo would prove to be South Carolina's second most valuable crop. Some called it "blue gold."  Over time, however, indigo production in South Carolina declined. After the Revolutionary War, English merchants started getting indigo from India. South Carolina farmers, however, weren't too sad. They soon turned their attention to growing a far more valuable crop --- cotton.

Indigo in the South Carolina Colony Articles and Activities

• Indigo in the South Carolina Colony Reading Comprehension
• Indigo in the South Carolina Colony Reading Passage and Critical Thinking Multiple Choice Questions (Interactive with Immediate Feeback and Score Report)
• South Carolina Colony Reading Comprehension
• South Carolina Colony Reading Passage and Critical Thinking Multiple Choice Questions (Interactive with Immediate Feeback and Score Report)
• Tobacco in the Southern Colonies Reading Comprehension
• Tobacco in the Southern Colonies Reading Passage and Critical Thinking Multiple Choice Questions (Interactive with Immediate Feeback and Score Report)
• History of Cotton Reading Comprehension
• History of Cotton Reading Passage and Critical Thinking Multiple Choice Questions (Interactive with Immediate Feeback and Score Report)

13 Colonies Navigation

• Massachusetts Bay Colony
• New Hampshire Colony
• Connecticut Colony
• Rhode Island Colony
• New York Colony
• New Jersey Colony
• Pennsylvania
• Delaware Colony
• Maryland Colony
• Virginia Colony
• North Carolina Colony
• South Carolina Colony
• Georgia Colony

Other 13 Colonies Articles

• Lost Colony at Roanoke
• Popham Colony
• Plymouth Colony
• Establishment of the House of Burgesses
• Life in Puritan Massachusetts
• Who were the Quakers?
• Tobacco in the Southern Colonies
• History of Cotton
• Indigo in the South Carolina Colony
• Highlights of a Colonial Town: Williamsburg
• King Phillip's War