What is the history and origin of cotton?

• Cotton as a textile material was used in India in about 5000 BC and the evidence indicates their use in the Mehrgarh and Rakhigarhi area of India.

• It is believed that cotton cultivation during the Indus Valley Civilisation (3300-1300 BC) helped the people of India to grow and cotton was readily used as a raw material for making clothing and other textile products.

• The cultivation of cotton gained importance during the rule of the Han Dynasty (206-220AD) in China however, the Chinese have always been more inclined towards the production of silk.

• The origin of cotton in the United States was around 4200 BC by the Mesoamerican but cotton as a textile material emerged around 5500 BC.

• Lastly, it took a long time for cotton to reach Europe after which the European countries began to produce cotton by the late Middle Ages. It was the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula that taught the Europeans the technique of cotton production.