American business pioneer Eliza Pinckney (1722–1793) single-handedly launched the indigo industry in pre-Revolutionary era South Carolina. Determined to make the highly prized tropical crop flourish in the Carolina soil, Pinckney carried out several experimental plantings in the early 1740s. These plantings finally yielded enough new seeds to make the plant, used in the textile industry for its distinctive a deep-blue dye, a viable crop in the region. Within a decade, South Carolina planters were exporting thousands of pounds of it annually, and the crop became a staple of the Southern economy.
