Cochineal: How Mexico Made the World See Red (Online Exhibit Spotlight) / Cochinilla: Cómo México Hizo que el Mundo Viera el Rojo (Exposición en Línea)
Harvard Museums of Science & Culture (Virtual) 26 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA, United StatesCochineal, a tiny insect found on certain species of Oaxacan cacti, was harvested for millennia by Indigenous peoples to dye fabrics a vibrant red color. But following the European invasion of the Americas in the sixteenth century, it became a widely coveted, globally traded commodity that transformed textiles and art, and made Mexico a center […]