How did the color red come about?

👑🌿In the mid-16th century, King Philip II of Spain sent the doctor-botanist Francisco Hernández to Mexico to search for valuable medicinal plants. Hernández found… insects on a cactus. Red, juicy and – surprise! – great coloring.

Francisco realizes that these insects are like living inkwells, and he does what any logical person would do: tries to paint over everything that is not tied down.

☠️ Fame without wealth

Hernández himself gains nothing special from this huge discovery, except a little fame – he is ill, it is believed that Hernández was poisoned or fell ill while traveling in Mexico – possibly from gases, plants or dyes that he was studying. He was also allergic to cochineal. The illness limited his ability to return to court or publicly defend his achievements, he loses influence and is forced to live outside the circles of the wealthy who profited from the cochineal trade.

🧐 Interesting facts:

Red was the first color after black and white.
People were already drawing on cave walls around 40,000 BC with red paint, which came from iron oxide (rust) pigment.

The human brain perceives red first
It is associated with danger or food.

In ancient Rome, soldiers wore red tunics.
So that the blood on their clothes wouldn’t be so visible, and their opponents wouldn’t be able to understand how badly they were injured.

Lipstick was a status symbol – and at the same time even a cause of death
In ancient Mesopotamia, women crushed semi-precious stones to paint their lips red. In the 1700s, lead-based lipsticks could be deadly.

“E120” in food – crushed insects. Cochineal or carmine is still used as a natural food coloring – in many yogurts, candies, cosmetics. Yes, it comes from crushed lice on cacti.