Abstract
Iron oxide pigment is commonly called Bengala in Japan. The name did not originate from old Japanese language, but from Portuguese. In this paper a historical survey of Bengala is given from ancient age to the present days. Bengala was one of the earliest coloring pigments used by human beings and still has its important roles in our modern life. It has been well known that in ancient ruined caves animals were drawn on the rocks by using natural iron oxide pigments. Red colored bricks in the old Indus civilizations (4500 years ago) were made from red clay. In ancient China (about 2nd. Century A.C) magnetic iron oxide was first applied to Direction Indicating Tools so called Shinan-gyo. In the present days, Bengala has been one of the most important materials in modern industries, especially electronics. From now on, Bengala would give the solutions to serious problems, i.e. recycling natural resources, earth environment preservation and energy saving which are the important key words in the 21st century.
