Cyprus

In Cyprus, farmers dug down through metres of sand to grow red.

Along the coast, the good soil lay buried under three to nine metres of drifting sand. Farmers dug the sand away until they reached the soil. There they planted madder, a plant whose roots give a red dye.

The dye was one of the most sought-after there was, especially for military uniforms, and the madder pits sold for very high prices.

Then came artificial dyes. By 1919, the old pits still lay along the shore like a row of basins. “The happy days of the cultivation of this plant are past,” a contemporary wrote, “never to return.”