series of graphic historic sketches of the introduction of indigo in Bihar. From these it would appear that Mr. Grand...was one of the founders of this industry. Wilson gives the dates of several concerns—Contai was opened out about 1778, and Singia in 1791;..."
"For twenty-two years (from 1780 to 1802) The East India Company directly supported the indigo industry and placed India…………in the foremost rank among the indigo-producing countries of the world. They however continued to make purchases of indigo for the purpose of remittances, and to ensure the supply they even made advances to the special factories that had contracted to sell their produce to the Company. About this time also it was recognized that the industry could not be regarded as successfully established in Bengal so long as it was exclusively held by the Anglo-Indian community. It was accordingly arranged that purchases should be made from, and advances given to, factories owned by Natives provided the security was 'sufficiently respectable and the quality fit for the European market."
To put the main facts about the history of this industry in a nutshell—"there is abundant evidence in support of the belief that when Europeans first began to purchase and export the dye from India, it was procured from the Western presidency and shipped for the most part from Surat. It was carried by the Portuguese to Lisbon and sold by them to the dyers of Holland. It was the desire to secure a more certain supply of dye-stuff that led to the formation, in 1631, of the Dutch East India Company, and shortly after to the overthrow of the Portuguese supremacy in the East. The success of the Dutch merchants aroused the jealousy of Europe. The woad growers and merchants of Germany, France and England were threatened wtth ruin, and to protect them nearly every country passed edicts rendering the importation or use of indigo a criminal offence punishable by death.
In 1608 England learned the art of indigo-dyeing, and in
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