Cotton (Gossypium spp), is, according to the USDA, the single most important textile fiber in the world, and accounts for some 40% of all the fibers produced.
Karachi Cotton Vendor, 1987. Photo by Lars Rodvaldr
Archaeologists and related scientists have ascertained that cotton was domesticated several times, in both the old and new worlds. The first event was in the Indus Valley of present-day Pakistan and India, where cotton fiber evidence at Mehrgarh and Mohenjo-Daro dates to ca. 5000 BC.
In a pair of recent articles, Contributing Writer Nicoletta Maestri investigates the origins of this amazingly useful crop.
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