Crimson Monopoly

For centuries, the most intense, vibrant red color in the world could not be synthesized in a laboratory or extracted from a plant. It came from the crushed bodies of a tiny, parasitic insect native to the Americas: the cochineal bug. The resulting pigment, carmine, was so breathtakingly vivid and colorfast that it became the third most valuable export from the New World, trailing only behind silv...