Industrias - History Lab https://historylab.es Fri, 20 May 2022 15:34:48 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://historylab.es/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-icono-historylab-32x32.jpg Industrias - History Lab https://historylab.es 32 32 Drawing of the production of grana or cochineal https://historylab.es/drawing-of-the-production-of-grana-or-cochineal/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=drawing-of-the-production-of-grana-or-cochineal Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:14 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/dibujo-de-la-obtencion-de-la-grana-o-cochinilla/ Representation of cochineal cultivation and production. The image shows a picture of a cultivated cactus, where the mealybug has swarmed well.

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]]> Cochineal is a species of aphid, mainly from Mexico and Peru, which has been used in the Americas for more than 2,000 years to dye clothes and colour food. In the 16th century, the Spanish began exporting it to Europe, where it fetched a high price as a dye for cloth and for use by painters. Later, the Spanish introduced it to the Canary Islands, where its cultivation became an important economic resource for the islands. When the Spanish conquered Mexico in 1521, they saw the indigenous people collecting insects from the nopales and soon realised its exceptional properties as a natural pigment. In Europe, since the Middle Ages, people had been looking for ways to obtain a perfect red pigment to dye fabrics. Medieval dyers, who were organised in guilds, were capable of producing many colours, but red was extremely difficult to obtain. The rich crimson and scarlet silks were dyed with kermes in centres located especially in Italy and Sicily. With the discovery of America, cochineal displaced kermes as it produced a stronger red in smaller quantities. By the 1570s, the European textile industry had become dependent on the use of cochineal. According to sources of the period, in 1580, around 133 tons of grana were produced in the whole of New Spain alone. Its growth did not stop increasing for centuries and soon ships loaded with dried insects were also targeted by pirates.

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]]> The Enlightenment in Cantabria https://historylab.es/the-enlightenment-in-cantabria/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-enlightenment-in-cantabria Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:27:59 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/la-ilustracion-en-cantabria/ Chapter that explores the historical past of Cantabria during the Enlightenment

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]]> This documentary delves into the economic and commercial features of 18th century Cantabria. In this context, the emerging prominence of the bourgeoisie, the importance of maritime connections, the opening up of trade with the breaking of the mercantile monopoly with America and the economic growth favoured by the road transport network via the Reinosa road, will be dynamic elements of a historical period in which a whole series of themes related to the process of modernisation in the region of Cantabria at the end of the Ancien Régime are raised and suggested to the viewer. The technological evolution of agriculture, mainly with the improvement of the flour industry, is taken as a guiding thread in the narration of the episode. However, the documentary also argues how the fiscal intentions of the State and the strategic location of the seaport of Santander in the European mercantilist networks would lead to the beginning of a process of industrialisation which would take centre stage well into the 19th century. The chapter also shows in great detail how the flour mills worked and the milling process, detailing the complex machinery used to separate and produce the grain.

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