The History of Cotton Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The History of Cotton - Literature review Example The plant has a leafy green shrub that has pink flowers that become the fruit or cotton balls. The cotton plant has deep roots, which go deep into the soil about 1.5 and is drought resistant but requires constant adequate moisture supply to produce healthy balls (Williams, Bolton & Moneyhon, 2013). Cotton is the most commonly used fiber in the manufacture of products regularly used such as the jeans pants, T-shirts, towels and shirts (Riello, 2013). The fiber from the cotton wool is transformed into yarn and fabric while seeds broken to oil and animal feeds and mulching purposes. The unprocessed form of the fiber is known as the lint. The lint exists within the fruit of the cotton plant or the ball and within each ball are around 30 seeds of cotton with numerous lint fibers connected to each seed. The fiber is protected within the ball until it ripens and breaks up. The word cotton originated from an Arabic word quantum or kutum referring to soft textiles. It is one of the oldest fibers ever. The archeologists discovered the cotton fabric 5000 years old at Mohenjo-Daro an ancient Indus River valley of West Pakistan and the same Egypt and Mexico. Cotton grew wildly in East Africa but first cultivation in Pakistan where it was used for the clothing purposes and binding on sandals and harnesses for elephants (Parker & Parker, 2012). Cotton has its origin from many countries globally, for instance, India where the fine quality cotton fabric originated making India the leading producer and exporter of cotton materials since 1500 BC until the end of the 15th century AD. The other countries, which started the cotton production after India, were China, Japan, and the Middle East. In America, Christopher Columbus began growing cotton in the early 17th century. However, the southern American colonies began producing cotton and manufacturing coarse clothing for their use. Â