A Nicer Red: The Exchange and Use of Vermilion in Early America

This article endeavors to fesh out a common chapter in the histories of color and of colonial encounters by exploring vermilion's circulation in North America during the long eighteenth century. Crossing great geographical expanses and cultural boundaries, this vibrant red pigment became a staple of the transatlantic fur trade as well as a crucial diplomatic gift through which competing imperial powers sought to solidify military alliances with Indigenous peoples. Its rise, rooted in the interplay of change and continuity, can be ascribed to new European methods of production and far more ancient North American patterns of ochre use.