COTTON(RAW)
Listing description
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypiumin the family of Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. Under natural conditions, the cotton bolls will tend to
increase the dispersal of the seeds.
Detailed description
The plant is a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions
around the world, including the Americas, Africa, and India. The greatest
diversity of wild cotton species is found in Mexico, followed by Australia and
Africa.[1] Cotton was independently domesticated in
the Old and New Worlds.
The fiber is most often spun
into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable textile. The
use of cotton for fabric is known to date to prehistoric times; fragments of
cotton fabric dated from 5000 BC have been excavated in Mexico and the Indus
Valley Civilization in Ancient
India (modern-day
Pakistan and some parts of India). Although cultivated since antiquity, it was
the invention of the cotton
gin that
lowered the cost of production that led to its widespread use, and it is the
most widely used natural
fiber cloth
in clothing today.
Current estimates for world
production are about 25 million tonnes or 110 million bales annually, accounting
for 2.5% of the world's arable land. China is the world's largest producer of
cotton, but most of this is used domestically. The United States has been the
largest exporter for many years.[2] In the United States, cotton is usually
measured in bales, which measure approximately 0.48 cubic metres (17 cubic
feet) and weigh 226.8 kilograms (500 pounds).[3]
Types
There are four commercially
grown species of cotton, all domesticated in antiquity:
·
Gossypium hirsutum – upland cotton, native
to Central
America, Mexico, the Caribbean and southern Florida (90% of world
production)
·
Gossypium barbadense – known as extra-long
staple cotton, native to tropical South America (8% of world production)
·
Gossypium herbaceum – Levant cotton, native
to southern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula (less than 2%)
The two New World cotton
species account for the vast majority of modern cotton production, but the two
Old World species were widely used before the 1900s. While cotton fibers occur
naturally in colors of white, brown, pink and green, fears of contaminating the
genetics of white cotton have led many cotton-growing locations to ban the
growing of colored cotton varieties, which remain a specialty product.
History
Cotton was used in the Old World at least 7,000 years ago (5th millennium
BC). Evidence of cotton use has been found at the site ofMehrgarh, where
early cotton threads have been preserved in copper beads.[4] Cotton cultivation became more widespread
during theIndus Valley Civilization, which
covered parts of modern eastern Pakistan and northwestern India.[5] The Indus cotton industry was
well-developed and some methods used in cotton spinning and fabrication
continued to be used until the industrialization of India.[6] Between 2000 and 1000 BC cotton became
widespread across much of India.[7] For example, it has been found at the site
of Hallus in Karnatakadating
from around 1000 BC.[8] Cotton fabrics discovered in a cave near Tehuacán, Mexico have
been dated to around 5800 BC, although it is difficult to know for certain due
to fiber decay.[9] Other sources date the domestication of
cotton in Mexico to approximately 5000 to 3000 BC.[10]
The Greeks and the Arabs were
not familiar with cotton until the Wars of Alexander the Great, as
his contemporary Megasthenes toldSeleucus I Nicator of
"there being trees on which wool grows" in "Indica".[citation needed] This may be a reference to "tree
cotton", Gossypium arboreum, which is a native of the
Indian subcontinent.
Cotton has been spun, woven,
and dyed since prehistoric times. It clothed the people of ancient India,
Egypt, and China. Hundreds of years before the Christian era, cotton textiles
were woven in India with matchless skill, and their use spread to the
Mediterranean countries.
In Iran (Persia), the
history of cotton dates back to the Achaemenid era (5th century BC); however, there are
few sources about the planting of cotton in pre-Islamic Iran. The planting of
cotton was common in Merv, Ray and Pars of Iran. In Persian
poets' poems, especiallyFerdowsi's Shahname, there
are references to cotton ("panbe" in Persian). Marco
Polo (13th
century) refers to the major products of Persia, including cotton. John
Chardin, a French traveler of the 17th century who visited the Safavid
Persia, spoke approvingly of the vast cotton farms of Persia.[11]
During the Han
dynasty, cotton was grown by non-Chinese peoples in the southern
Chinese province of Yunnan.[12]
In Peru,
cultivation of the indigenous cotton species Gossypium barbadense was the backbone of the development of
coastal cultures such as the Norte Chico, Moche, and Nazca.
Cotton was grown upriver, made into nets, and traded with fishing villages along
the coast for large supplies of fish. The Spanish who came to Mexico and Peru
in the early 16th century found the people growing cotton and wearing clothing
made of it.
During the late medieval
period, cotton became known as an imported fiber in northern Europe, without
any knowledge of how it was derived, other than that it was a plant. Because Herodotus had written in his Histories, Book III, 106, that in
India trees grew in the wild producing wool, it was assumed that the plant was
a tree, rather than a shrub. This aspect is retained in the name for cotton in
several Germanic languages, such as German Baumwolle, which
translates as "tree wool" (Baum means "tree"; Wolle means "wool"). Noting its
similarities to wool, people in the region could only imagine that cotton must
be produced by plant-borne sheep. John
Mandeville, writing in 1350, stated as fact the now-preposterous belief:
"There grew there [India] a wonderful tree which bore tiny lambs on the
endes of its branches. These branches were so pliable that they bent down to
allow the lambs to feed when they are hungrie [sic]."
(See Vegetable Lamb of Tartary.) By
the end of the 16th century, cotton was cultivated throughout the warmer
regions in Asia and the Americas.
1KG,10KG AND
50KG BAGS
PRICE
$185.46/KG
For more information:
mobile: +2348039721941
contact person: emeaba uche
website: www.franchiseminerals.com
e-mail: emeabau@yahoo.com
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