Question

How colours were invented

Answer 1

The primary colors have been known since antiquity, at least in the oldest written languages. The names are borrowed from natural objects, sun, sea, plants, etc.The the practice of dying fabric and staining wood to provide colors gave languages more names, eg Indigo blue Culture determines much of the history of color. 

The precise answer if the the German chemical industry in the later 1800s--Prussian Blue for example.Source(s):Color: A Natural History of the Palette (Paperback)