ABSTRACT
The famous Lincoln Green was one of the earliest, a high-quality cloth that was dyed in the wool, and its standards were likewise backed by civic authority and royal charter. Robin Hood and his men in Sherwood Forest may have chosen Lincoln Green for camouflage, but they also supported one of the earliest "buy British" campaigns. The jump from the medieval wool trade to West African cotton prints does not cross as gaping a chasm as one might imagine from the lapse of 500 years. Flemish cloth lost its European dominance in the 14th century, when the spinning wheel made Spanish merino wool more desirable. Bruges citizens turned to making lace and tapestries, and neighbouring Netherlands cities gained commercial dominance. Dutch colonial authorities took over Elmina from the Portuguese in the 18th century and conquered Java in Indonesia by 1830.
