A Colour That Faced Extinction: Brazilwood and its Endangered Legacy

How a cherished dyewood shaped global colour history, and why its future was in crisis.

The history of pigments and dyestuff is often intimately linked with the history of economics and avaricious trade. In a world with finite resources, this history has often entailed both human and environmental exploitation. The history of brazilwood is a testament of this dual exploitation, as the Portuguese crown established a monopoly over the brazilwood trade and relied heavily on coercive and enforced indigenous labour. This overharvesting due to the brazilwood trade, led to vast environmental destruction of the Atlantic forest. The legacy of brazilwood and its impact as a valued dye source, became central to the region's evolving identity and a part of the economic history of Brazil.

Brazilwood is a tree that is so notable for its use and reputation as a dyewood, it shaped the name of a country. Paubrasilia echinata more commonly known as brazilwood, is native to the Atlantic forest in Brazil. Brazilwood is in the Fabaceae family and is a flowering tree, which can grow up to 15 metres tall, the growth rate of brazilwood is slow as the regeneration cycles are long, which has made it vulnerable to overexploitation; however, before overexploitation by colonialists, brazilwood trees could grow up to 30m tall. The leaves are pinnate and grow oblong, while the flowers are yellow with a red centre. The bark is dark brown and the wood is dense, with the heartwood of the inner tree trunk hiding the dye precursor brazilin. When oxidised, this turns into brazilein which is the red-coloured dye. Brazilin is also found in sappanwood (caesalpinia sappan) which is native to Asia. Before Europeans were aware of brazilwood, sappanwood was widely used across Europe for dyeing textiles; however, once brazilwood was discovered by colonialists it overshadowed the use of sappanwood. This shift may have inadvertently prevented the overexploitation of sappanwood, while the focus was exhausted on brazilwood as a source for red dye. Brazilwood is an historic dye in which its value is driven by its ability to produce especially vibrant red dyes. Vibrant red dyes have been associated with grandeur and used as a status symbol, and with brazilwood’s relative affordability in comparison with other vivid red dyes sources it became a dominant commodity.

Prisoners sawing wood in the Rasphuis

Image Credit: Stadsarchief Amsterdam

Before brazilwood was discovered by European colonialists, sappanwood was a highly desired dye source in the Middle Ages for shades that varied from red to pink. Sappanwood was also an alternative red dye source for kermes during this period, as it was a more affordable plant-derived option. Prior to Portuguese expansion to the Americas, they had already established trade routes in Asia in the late 15th century where Portuguese merchants traded natural sources of red dye including sappanwood. Pedro Cabral led the first Portuguese expedition to where is now current day Brazil, which entailed the discovery of brazilwood to Europeans. This fleet led by Cabral transported a shipment of brazilwood back to Portugal, which established the first major economic pursuit for the Portuguese crown in Brazil. The Portuguese crown established royal jurisdiction over the Atlantic forest to control timber exploitation, and swiftly established a monopoly. In the early 1500s, the Portuguese crown began to draft contracts to control and monopolize the brazilwood trade, which included contracting out the rights to trade brazilwood to private merchants exclusively from Brazil. By the 1600s, brazilwood in the European markets was fairly strong, which was beneficial for the Portuguese economy, as more than half of the annual import revenue for Portugal came from trading brazilwood. The largest consumer market of this trade was in the Netherlands. By the latter end of the 16th century and throughout the 17th, a prison in Amsterdam known as the ‘Rasphuis’ played a central role in processing brazilwood in Europe. Some of the prisoners at this institution were responsible for processing the final stages of the dyestuff, which involved shaving the 1 to 2 metres logs of heartwood into powder. The ‘Rasphuis’ was the only place granted the right in Amsterdam to process brazilwood, from the mid 1600s the productivity of brazilwood processed into a powder increased significantly due to a windmill that was erected in Amsterdam that was used to advance the time it took to process. This advancement mirrored the increased brazilwood dye consumption in Europe.

T' Rasphvys - Rasper's House

Image Credit: Stadsarchief Amsterdam

Brazilwood is a mordant dye as the main colouring compound i.e. brazilein needs the support of a metallic salt (a mordant) to fix well onto fabric. Mordants can dramatically change the range of colours and support the light fastness of dyes, historically brazilwood dyes were washfast but not light fast, and were prone to fading without the use of a mordant. The traditional and most simple method of dye extraction from brazilwood involves reducing the heartwood into a powder and boiling it for three hours, this solution can be set aside for a few days to mature before pre-mordanting the chosen fabric and dyed with the aged deep red solution. There are various brazilwood dye recipes that range from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, with variations such as being used to overdye and adjust and the shade of a dye, often combined with other natural dye sources.

Brazilwood is classified on the IUCN red list as an endangered species, which means that there is a high level threat of brazilwood becoming extinct in the wild. Currently, international trade of brazilwood is highly regulated to conserve the survival of the species. This is because historical exploitation that was unabated for 375 years, alongside urbanisation, has reduced the natural habitat and severely declined its population. There have been conservation efforts to help prevent brazilwood from going extinct over the years, with notably the full protection in 1934 of the Itatiata National Park. More recently, in 2001, bowmakers from numerous countries helped to re-forest brazilwood in the state of Bahia in order to create sustainable harvests and prevent brazilwood from going extinct.

Paubrasilia echinata

Image Credit: Magna Mater

The history of the brazilwood trade is an example of the consequences of irresponsible resource management, and the questionable ethics of early global trade. The short-sighted and profit focused handling of this trade, has scarred both the tree species as well as the landscape of the Atlantic forest. Hence, it is important to reflect on the cautionary tales of unregulated extractive industries, in spite of the fact that this is not an uncommon practice. Ongoing collaborative conservation efforts have helped to prevent brazilwood from going extinct, and to help counteract some of the historic damage; yet this tree remains to be one of the most endangered trees in Brazil. The irony of the same tree that is attested for its ability to contribute beautiful and vibrant colourants to wear and to decorate with, has been devastated by this very demand. The tension between appreciation and protection of a resource is something to balance carefully to avoid overexploitation. This history provokes us to confront the challenge of how to appreciate the allure of a resource, such as brazilwood dye, without devastating its very source.

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Images

IMG 1 brazilwood: https://archief.amsterdam/beeldbank/detail/0bec2f4e-aadc-5409-1718-0c3dd65359e3/media/6f820ee5-82 b8-2a41-54e7-795145c3313a?mode=detail&view=horizontal&q=rasphuis&rows=1&page=33

IMG 2 brazilwood: https://archief.amsterdam/beeldbank/detail/a3d870bb-c320-1d7a-ee01-0ab8f5cccdf4/media/2267b926-e7 9c-8ea5-c974-fc5f007e03fc?mode=detail&view=horizontal&q=rasphuis&rows=1&page=95

IMG 3 brazilwood https://www.magnamater.com.br/post/pau-brasil