Cotton That We Grow

The History and Evolution of Cotton

• Origin of the Word ‘Cotton’
• The word cotton comes from the Arabic word 'qutun' or 'kutun', used to describe any fine textile.

Ancient References and Early Cultivation

• Scientists and historians have found shreds of cloth or written references to cotton dating back at least 7,000 years.
• The oldest discovery was made in a Mexican Cave, where scientists unearthed bits and pieces of cotton bolls and cloth.
• Archaeologists have also found cloth fragments in the Indus Valley Of India dating back to 3000 B.C.
• In 1500 B.C., cotton was mentioned in a Hindu Rig-Veda Hymn, referring to “Threads in The Loom”.
• It is believed that India was the first to cultivate cotton, although it grew wild in several regions worldwide.
• People in Egypt’s Nile Valley and Peru were also familiar with cotton.

Cotton in the Americas and Europe

• Cotton was grown by American Indians In The Early 1500s, as observed by the Coronado expedition (1540-42).
• The Spaniards cultivated cotton in Florida in 1556.
• During the 1700s in England, laws restricted cotton imports and manufacturing to protect the wool industry.
• By the early 1600s, cotton was introduced to North America, and in 1607, the first cotton seed was planted by colonists along the James River in Virginia.

Industrial Advancements in Cotton Production

• While colonists could produce cotton, they lacked the mechanical know-how for large scale processing.
• Samuel Slater, an English mill worker, migrated to America in 1790 and built the first American cotton mill from memory.
• Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793, revolutionizing the way lint (cotton fibers) was separated from seeds.
• Before the cotton gin, separation was done manually, limiting productivity to 1lb. per worker per day.
• Whitney’s gin increased output to 50 Lbs. Per Worker Per Day.

Improvements in Cotton Harvesting

• Initially, cotton harvesting was done by hand, with skilled labourers picking approximately 450 lbs. of seed cotton per day.
• The first picking device was patented in 1850, followed by a stripper machine in 1871.
• In the 1930s, after years of development, the Rust Brothers of Mississippi used a mechanical cotton picker, harvesting 8,000 lbs. of seed cotton in one day.

Interesting Facts About Cotton

• There are 43 species of cotton: 37 from the Old World (Africa, Asia, and Australia) and 6 from the New World (North/South America, Hawaii, and the Galápagos Islands).
• Cotton absorbs up to 27 times its weight in water.
• Denim was first made in the 16th century in Nîmes, France.
• At least 215 pairs of jeans can be made from one 227 kg bale of cotton.
• Aside from textiles, cotton and its by-products are used in banknotes, margarine, rubber, and medical supplies.

Global Cotton Production

• Since the early 1980s, China has overtaken the U.S. as the largest producer of cotton in the world.
• India is now the second-largest cotton producer, while the Brazil ranks third.