Who did India trade cotton with?
India had at least a thousand years of cotton textile production before Alexander the Great invaded in 327. As a result, Greek merchants started trading cotton with India. The Romans followed afterwards along with Arab traders by the 1st century CE.
Why were Indian cotton sought after the European customers?
Indian cottons were sought after by European consumers because of their desirable properties. They were the first textiles whose colour could resist washing and did not fade with light.
What impact did the introduction of Indian cotton textiles have on Europe socially and economically?
Maritime connections with India and trade in Indian cotton textiles, which enabled Europeans to purchase slaves in pre-colonial Africa, thus played a key role in the development of the eighteenth-century Atlantic economy, and the subsequent rise of the West in the following century.
Where did cotton spread from India?
Cloth discovered in the Indus valley dates Indian textile manufacture back to at least 2300 BC. Perhaps even earlier, cotton was being cultivated on the Pacific coast of Chile and Peru. From India it spread west to Egypt and Turkey; from the Pacific north to Central America and the Caribbean.
How did cotton come to India?
The latest archaeological discovery in Mehrgarh puts the dating of early cotton cultivation and the use of cotton to 5000 BCE. The Indus Valley civilization started cultivating cotton by 3000 BCE. Cotton was mentioned in Hindu hymns in 1500 BCE.
Which country grew cotton first?
3000 B.C. – Cotton first cultivated as a fabric in the Indus River Valley (present-day Pakistan).
How did the Indian textiles affect the European market?
As the European markets were flooded with Indian textiles, wool and silk cloth manufacturers in England began to oppose the import of Indian textiles. The British Government passed the Calico Act in 1720, banning the use of printed cotton cloth in England.
Why did British producers want to imitate Indian cotton cloth?
Imitation of Indian Cottons: Calico Printing While established textile interests in Europe wanted to protect themselves from Indian competition, new manufacturers arose who sought to imitate the Indian goods and to produce them at home.
What is the significance of the Indian cotton textiles?
Why did India grow more cotton under British rule?
British colonization also forced open the large Indian market to British goods, which could be sold in India without tariffs or duties, compared to local Indian producers, while raw cotton was imported from India without tariffs to British factories which manufactured textiles from Indian cotton, giving Britain a …
Who found cotton first?
3000 B.C. – Cotton first cultivated as a fabric in the Indus River Valley (present-day Pakistan). 2500 B.C. – Chinese, Egyptian and South American civilisations begin weaving cotton fabrics.
When was cotton first traded?
Cotton specimens have been located in northern Peru, dating as far back as 2500 bce. Trade of cotton goods was taking place between India and Persia as early as the fifth century bce.
How did the British trade in Indian cotton textiles?
In the City of London, the Company auctioned the textiles to wholesalers and merchants, both British and foreign. Thomas Lumley, a major London merchant at the turn of the nineteenth century, bought Indian cotton textiles from the Company and resold them to merchants in London and Liverpool who in turn invested in the Atlantic slave trade.
When did cotton trade start in Europe?
Trade of cotton goods was taking place between India and Persia as early as the fifth century bce. Cotton was brought to southern Europe ( Greece, Sicily, and Spain) on a large scale by Arab traders during the ninth and tenth centuries CE while it was imported to North Europe during the thirteenth century.
What is the history of cotton in India?
Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian, mentions Indian cotton in the 5th century BCE as “a wool exceeding in beauty and goodness that of sheep.” When Alexander the Great invaded India, his troops started wearing cotton clothes that were more comfortable than their previous woolen ones.
How much of the world’s Cotton is internationally traded?
About one-third is internationally traded, representing about 0.1 percent of global merchandize trade. Despite its low share in global trade, cotton trade is very important to many poor countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where an estimated 2 million rural poor households depend on the commodity.