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A small dried insect changed the world . The cochineal bug lives on a cactus . Indigenous people in Mexico knew it for centuries . They crushed the dried bugs to make a deep red dye . Spanish ships brought cochineal to Europe in the 1520s . European dyers had never seen a red so strong . A small bag of dried bugs made a lot of dye . Wool and silk turned a brilliant scarlet . Kings and cardinals wanted this color . It became a sign of wealth and power . For two hundred years , Spain kept the source secret . Buyers in Europe did not know the dye came from an insect . They said it was a seed or a berry . Cochineal cost almost as much as silver . Mexico became the center of its trade . Millions of bugs were dried and shipped every year . Today , cochineal is still used . You can find it in some red food and lipstick . It is listed as carmine or E120 on the label . One tiny bug connected two continents . It changed what people wore and how they looked . That is a big story for a very small creature .
