Cotton

South Asia has been at the centre of the world cotton trade for thousands of years. Cotton was first cultivated here and in South America. Four species of cotton have been domesticated, but cultivars of the New World species G. hirsutum and G. barbadense dominate todays world markets. The two species used in ancient South Asia were G. herbaceum and G. arboreum. They originated in Africa and India and were developed as fibre crops at the same time the New World species were used for the same purposes.

The earliest written reference to cotton in South Asia is in the Rig Veda dating from about 1500 BC, but cotton was utilised in this region long before then. Fragments of cotton textiles from the Indus Valley dating from around 3000 BC show that ancient civilisations of the region were skilled in spinning, weaving and dyeing cotton.Paintings in the Ajanta Caves in Maharastra show that a variety of patterns and colours had been developed in India by 200 BC to 500 AD. These fabrics were in demand outside South Asia and they were probably exported to Greece before Alexander the Great established the trade routes .South Asia became famous for its textiles, and fine cotton muslins were exported to the Greeks and the Romans. Muslins from Dhaka in Bangladesh were particularly prized. The Greek historian, Herodotus, wrote about Indian cotton in the 5th century BC. He described 'trees that bore wool, surpassing in beauty and in quality the wool of sheep; and the Indians wear clothing from these trees.'India continued to be the world's main producer of cotton textiles. The growing export trade extended to the rest of Europe including Britain.

Embroideries of silk on white cotton from Gujarat were the first textiles to reach Britain from India, but the most popular were dyed cotton wall hangings. In Europe textiles became known by their trade names. Calico fabrics were so named because they were exported from Calicut on the Malabar coast. The fabrics were shipped to the Arabian Gulf, taken by camel to the Nile River, and then shipped to the Mediterranean. In the 1600s, European explorers discovered that cotton plants were also being grown and used in the Americas. These newly discovered species were introduced to Africa in the 18th century and later spread to India and Pakistan, where they replaced traditional cultivars.