All varieties of cotton (botanical name ″Gossypium″) grew originally in the desert zones of both the old and the new world. The cotton fibre was used probably at the end of the stone age in both hemispheres, to manufacture strings and maybe also fishing nets.
The time at which the real cotton growing started is not known, but from the remnants found at Cuzco (Peru) it was deduced that cotton spinning and dyeing date back to at least 2500 years ago; the excavations carried out in the village of Mohen Daro (Pakistan) gave evidence that cotton spinning and weaving were known already in 3000 B.C. Other archaeological finds prove that the Aztecs in Mexico and the Olmecs in central America, beside the Incas and their ancestors in the Andes produced cotton fabrics with very nice and complex designs which date back to over 2000 years ago.
The word ″cotton″ comes from the Arabic ″Katun″ which means plant of the conquered lands, with reference to the invasion of India by Alexander the Great in 327 BC. Several cotton fabrics still today bear the names of Asiatic and European towns, as well as of sea harbours situated along the cotton sea routes to Europe. Thus e.g. the term ″satin″ originates from the Arab name of the Chinese town Tseutung (Canton, today), the very popular ″denim″ from the French town Nimes, the name ″poplin″ from the papal city of Avignon and the name ″lisle″ from the French town Lille.
The cotton plant, as it originates from the desert, needs much sunlight and a warm climate; consequently it cannot be grown in Western Europe, except for Greece and Spain.
Production and consumption
The major cotton producing countries are at present China, the United States (the renowned ″cotton belt″ where the celebrated ″U.S. Upland″ cotton is being produced embracing several States: Texas, California, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Arizona and New Mexico), followed by CIS, India and Pakistan. According to a recent report of I.C.A.C. (International Cotton Advisory Committee), the world production of raw cotton in the harvest 1998-99 is estimated at around 18,3 million tons, recording a drop against previous years, while world consumption is predicted to remain at about 19,3 million tons (a rather stabile value).
The main exporting countries of raw cotton are the USA and the CIS (in the first place the state of Uzbekistan, followed by Turkmenistan and Tajikistan).
Cotton is mostly imported by those countries which, although having no possibility to grow it, have within their borders a more or less well developed textile industry. Typical countries are Italy, which in the biennium 1998-99 imported 355.000 tons of cotton, Germany (135.000 tons) and Portugal (174.000 tons). Russia too is a big cotton importer.
The major raw cotton producer countries (1997-1998 harvest)
In the Far East, the major raw cotton importer countries are Japan (278,000 tons, again in the year 1998-99), South Korea (275,000 tons), Thailand (315,000 tons) and Indonesia (386,000 tons). Even China imported about 400.000 tons of cotton.
These figures correspond in most cases to the consumption volumes.
