While natives highly valued cochineal, early Spanish conquerors were not immediately interested in the product. After conquistador Hernán Cortés noticed cochineal in an Aztec marketplace, the dyestuff was shipped to Europe where it caused a sensation, producing the brightest red in the Old World. According to English chemist Robert Boyle, cochineal produced "a perfect Scarlet." Although the cochineal obsession would provide Spain with substantial profits, disputes between Spanish conquistadors and the king of Spain, Charles V, prolonged its large-scale success in Europe. As cochineal gradually attracted the attention of colonists arriving in the New World, cochineal became one of the most prosperous enterprises in Europe. Spain’s cochineal
