Synthetic dye

Synthetic dyes are colourants produced by industrial chemistry rather than extracted from plants or animals, a technology that developed rapidly from the mid-nineteenth century. Firms such as BASF, Bayer and Hoechst made the German Empire the world leader in the field. Accounts of the German Empire note that German companies controlled most of the global synthetic dye and dyestuff market by 1913, a mark of the country's scientific and industrial strength.