Interesting Facts about Cotton

Cotton was first grown and used to make cloth hundreds of years ago in India and the Middle East. It was also grown independently in China, as well as in Central and South America. People in these regions learned how to spin and weave cotton long before it was known in Europe.

Italy was the first European country to make cotton fabrics. However, the quality of European cotton goods was not as good as the fine Indian textiles, which were made with centuries of experience and skill.

When English traders and settlers began to live in India, they started bringing Indian cotton fabrics to Britain. This is how the English first discovered Indian cotton textiles, which were considered the best in the world at that time.

Before cotton came to England — first brought by Protestant settlers from Holland at the end of the sixteenth century — almost all clothes were made from wool and linen. The makers of wool and linen tried to stop cotton production. A special law was passed that made weaving cotton illegal. It even said that people should be buried only in woolen shrouds!

However, people liked cotton because it was lighter, softer, and cheaper than linen. The law was eventually abolished, and cotton manufacturing grew quickly. Lancashire, which was already the center of wool and linen production, soon became the heart of the British cotton trade.