History of Cotton Timeline

From the late 17th to the early 18th century, Mughal India supplied 95 percent of British imports from Asia, while Bengal alone supplied 40 percent of Dutch imports from Asia.

Before steam power became dominant, cotton machinery relied on traditional energy sources such as animal power, water wheels, and windmills. These remained principal energy sources in Western Europe until around 1870.

Image source: Industrial Revolution

At the turn of the 18th century, a lack of international competition and innovation caused the Mughal cotton industry to stagnate, allowing European industry to begin gaining ground.

Indian textiles dominated Indian Ocean trade, circulated in Atlantic trade, and accounted for 38 percent of West African trade in the early 18th century. Indian textiles also made up 20 percent of English trade with Southern Europe.

Indian cotton textiles were the most important manufactured goods in 18th-century world trade and were consumed from the Americas to Japan.

India held a 25 percent share of global textile trade in the early 18th century, reflecting the international importance of its cotton manufacturing.

In 1721, Parliament passed the Calico Act, banning the use of calicoes for clothing and domestic purposes because imported cotton fabrics threatened British manufacturers.

The Calico Act was repealed in 1774 after the invention of machines that enabled British manufacturers to compete more effectively with Eastern cotton fabrics.

U.S. cotton production was only 900,000 kilograms in 1791, but annual output exceeded 22 million kilograms by 1801. By the early 1830s, the United States produced most of the world's cotton.

Eli Whitney invented the modern cotton gin in 1793. By greatly accelerating the removal of seeds from cotton fiber, it helped transform the American cotton industry and made cotton surpass tobacco as the South's primary cash crop.

British cotton goods accounted for 15.6 percent of Britain's exports in 1794–1796 and rose to 42.3 percent in 1804–1806.

Britain eventually surpassed India as the world's leading cotton textile manufacturer during the 19th century. British cotton products were successful in European markets and represented 40.5 percent of exports in 1784–1786.

Under Muhammad Ali in the early 19th century, steam engines were introduced into Egypt's cotton industry. Egypt had the world's fifth most productive cotton industry by spindles per capita.

Image source: Muhammad Ali of Egypt

The need for fertile land suitable for cotton helped expand slavery in the United States and contributed to the early 19th-century land rush known as Alabama Fever.

Spinning became more important in Spain's cotton industry during the early 19th century after the introduction of English spinning technology.

Industrialization in Catalonia accelerated during the 1830s after adoption of the factory system and the removal of British restrictions on the emigration of skilled labor in 1825 and machinery in 1842.

By 1839, thousands of children worked in Manchester's cotton mills, illustrating the labor conditions associated with industrial cotton production.

By the mid-19th century, cotton textile production was concentrated in Catalonia, making it Spain's main industrial region. The industry traced its origins to 18th-century printed chintz production in Barcelona.

Child labor in Britain was banned during the middle of the 19th century, after children had become a major part of the workforce in cotton mills.

Image source: Child labour

The American Civil War caused the Lancashire Cotton Famine by cutting off access to American raw cotton and producing a depression in Britain's cotton industry between 1861 and 1865.

Image source: Lancashire Cotton Famine

Egyptian cotton helped fill Britain's supply gap during the American Civil War. It represented 31 percent of British cotton imports in 1861, 90 percent in 1862, and 67 percent in 1864.

After the Civil War ended in 1865, British and French traders returned to cheap American cotton. Egypt's cotton exports collapsed, contributing to a deficit spiral, bankruptcy in 1876, and British occupation in 1882.

Image source: History of Egypt under the British

After the Civil War, the American South continued as a one-crop cotton economy until the boll weevil spread across the region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Image source: Cotton production in the United States

Boll weevils entered the United States from Mexico in 1892. These cotton-eating insects created a century of problems for the U.S. cotton industry.

Image source: Boll weevil

In 1912, the British cotton industry reached its peak, producing eight billion yards of cloth.

In 1933, Japan introduced 24-hour cotton production and became the world's largest cotton manufacturer.

The value of cotton lint decreased over six decades, while the value of cotton fell by 50 percent between 1997 and 2007.

India's cotton industry struggled in the late 19th century because production was largely unmechanized and American raw cotton dominated exports. A downturn in Europe's cotton industry during the second half of the 20th century helped India experience a resurgence.

The resurgence of Japan's and other countries' textile industries did not last for Britain: by 1958, Britain had become a net importer of cotton cloth.

The United Kingdom attempted to modernize its declining cotton industry through the Cotton Industry Act 1959.

The United States was the leading cotton exporter, supported by government subsidies estimated at $14 billion between 1995 and 2003.

Max Havelaar launched a fair trade label for cotton in 2005, creating the first fair trade label for a non-food commodity.

As of December 2016, India was the leading cotton producer with 26 percent of production, ahead of China at 20 percent and the United States at 16 percent.