Through Earth's existence, human kind has gone through an evolution. As time has passed, humans have been forced to adapt to the world around them in order to survive. This process included the finding of new and great things that once lied undiscovered in our world. Whether they were stumbled upon or looked for, these items changed the way of everyday living. Of the many things that were uncovered, cotton was one of them.
Despite historians being unsure about the exact timeframe that cotton was found, the time of its discovery was very significant to its growth. This event changed the way humans evolved thereafter. History is like cause and effect in the way that every chronological event is related to the next. Without cotton, the world today would be an incredibly different place to live in. This paper will talk about cotton, historically, and its advances through the industry, with a focus on how slavery relates to cotton.
A variety of contemporary fabrics. From the left: ...
Crawford Notch Depot
Crawford House in the backgroundIt was long before the time of Christ that references in law books of Manu told of cotton cultivation having been established in India in 800-700 B.C. (Crawford, XV). At about the same time, "Herodotus, 'the father of history,' wrote of an Indian plant 'which instead of fruit, produces wool, of a finer and better quality than that of sheep'" (Hammond, 3). Writings such as these tell historians that the cotton culture was widespread among the people of India, Persia, Egypt, and China even before Christ (3).
With artifacts and pieces of information, historians can trace each phase of cotton history according to how it affected Europe and The New World's Colonial, and early, national life (Crawford 4). Beyond the bits and pieces of even the earliest documentation of cotton, its history is just a blur. There is no one...