History of Cotton, Natural Dyes, and UK Industrialization

choi

Gerard Helferich, The Fabric of Our Times; In the 1800s, cotton became an unprecedented amalgam of European technology, American raw material and forced African labor. Wall Street Journal, July 11, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 29521097664096.html
(book review on Giorgio Riello, Cotton; The fabric that made the modern world. Cambridge University Press, 2013)


Note:
(a) The German or French surnames Helferich/Helfrich are composed of "helfe ‘help’ + ric ‘power.’"


(b) "It is thought that cotton was first cultivated some 5,000 years ago, in northwest India. Around 400 BC, eastern merchants introduced cotton cloth to Europe. By the 10th century, the plant was being grown in Spain and Greece * * * But most of the Continent was too cold for raising cotton, and the fabric remained a luxurious curiosity."
(i) cotton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton
(native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world)


Section 2 History cites


Moulherat C et al, First Evidence of Cotton at Neolithic Mehrgarh, Pakistan: Analysis of Mineralized Fibres from a Copper Bead. Journal of Archaeological Science, 12: 1393-1401 (2002)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/sci ... i/S0305440301907794


(c) “When European traders reached India at the end of the 15th century, they were astonished by the abundance of brightly colored cotton fabrics. They loaded some in their caravels along with spices and other high-end merchandise, and their countrymen were delighted by the cloth's light weight, washability, vibrant hues and exotic motifs. By the 1600s, hand-decorated chintz, muslin, calico and other cottons had surpassed all other cargoes of the East India Co combined.”
(i) natural dye
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_dye
from India:
(A) from cow urine: Indian yellow
(B) from root of Munjeet or Indian madder (Rubia cordifolia): Turkey red, which was developed in India and spread to Turkey
(C) blues: India is believed to be the oldest center of indigo dyeing in the Old World
(D) browns: cutch is an ancient brown dye from the wood of acacia trees, particularly Acacia catechu, used in India for dyeing cotton
(E) crimson and scarlet: the lac-producing insects of India, Southeast Asia, China, and Tibet

(ii) The preceding Wiki page says little about China.
(A) 2,500-year-old Textiles Discovered by Chinese Archaeologists. Xinhua, July 31, 2007
http://history.cultural-china.com/en/56History9723.html

* This report prompted a cry of "hype" in Chinahistoryforum.com, whose participants could not figure out what dyes might have been on the fabric. To date, no scientific paper is published in the West; two were in Chinese which is not available online (except abstracts).
(B) East Zhou Tomb at Lizho'ao in Jing'an County, Jiangxi. Kaogu, July 2008
http://www.kaogu.cn/en/detail.asp?ProductID=1814

did not mention fabric, as the next one did.
(C) Excavation of Lizhou'ao Eastern Zhou Tomb in Jing'an, Jiangxi. Wenwu, February 2009
http://www.kaogu.net.cn/en/detail.asp?ProductID=1981
(D) Li Zhou'ao Ancient Tomb in Jing'an County of Jiangxi. China Culture, undated.
http://www1.chinaculture.org/lib ... /content_130229.htm

(iii) chintz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chintz

* Online Etymology Dictionary, undated
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=chintz
("chintz (n)[:] 1719, plural of chint (1610s), from Hindi chint, from Sanskrit chitra-s "clear, bright" (cf. cheetah). The plural [chints] (the more common form of the word in commercial use) became regarded as singular by late 18c., and for unknown reason shifted -s to -z; perhaps after quartz. Disparaging sense, from the commonness of the fabric, is first recorded 1851 in George Eliot (in chintzy)")
(iv) muslin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslin
(originated in present-day Bangladesh; most typically an unbleached or white cloth; section 1 Etymology and history)
(v) calico (textile)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_(textile)
(Originally from the city of Kozhikode (known by Europeans as Calicut in the 11th century) in Kerala, India)

* calico cat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_cat
(predominantly white, with patches of two other colors; "Calico" refers only to a color pattern on the fur, not to a breed)
* Online Etymology Dictionary, undated
http://www.etymonline.com/index. ... amp;searchmode=none
"calico (n)[:] 1530s, kalyko, corruption of Calicut (modern Kozhikode), seaport on Malabar coast of India, where Europeans first obtained it. In 16c. it was second only to Goa among Indian commercial ports for European trade. Extended to animal colorings suggestive of printed calicos in 1807, originally of horses")

(d) "Manchester, in the north of England, became the industry's hub, thanks largely to its proximity to the port of Liverpool."

Manchester
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester

Quote:

"Trade, and feeding the growing population, required a large transport and distribution infrastructure: the canal system [Bridgewater Canal, Britain's first wholly artificial waterway, was opened in 1761, bringing coal from mines at Worsley to central Manchester] was extended, and Manchester became [in 1830] one end of the world's first intercity passenger railway—the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.

"Manchester's geographic features were highly influential in its early development as the world's first industrial city. These features are its climate, its proximity [51 km/31 miles] to a seaport at Liverpool, the availability of water power from its rivers, and its nearby coal reserves.


(e) "In the beginning, Europeans couldn't spin thread as fine or as strong as that used in Asian cloth. So, drawing on its long tradition of fine printing, Europe imported plain cotton fabric from Asia and stamped it with Indian-style designs. The new process, involving copper plates and large roller presses, required substantial capital as well as a new regimentation of workers. Thus began cotton's journey from an artisanal, labor-intensive craft to a centralized, capital-intensive industry.

"As the international market for machine-printed cottons boomed, Indian suppliers were unable to keep up with the demand for plain cloth. Prices rose accordingly. Europeans, especially the British, began to tinker with mechanical devices for spinning and weaving, and by the late 18th century their inventions were turning out cotton fabric at a lower price and a higher quality than Asian artisans could manage. * * * The English cotton industry had eclipsed the vaunted wool trade, and before long India and China would be importing printed cottons from Europe.

Luddite
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite
(English textile artisans who protested against newly developed labour-saving machinery from 1811 to 1817; Ned Ludd allegedly smashed two stocking frames in 1779)

(f) "England had devised a new kind of industrial production * * * Cotton became an unprecedented amalgam of European technology, American raw material [cotton] * * * The 1800s were the 'century of cloth,' and cotton was the mainstay of world trade. Having created the first modern export-oriented economy, England wielded its economic, political and military advantage to ensure its supply of resources and protect its trade networks."

Come to think about it, the UK after Industrial Revolution excelled at textile, plus steel (and all those that came with it, such as shipbuilding and armaments). Unlike Germany, chemistry was not UK's strong suit. So, when the manufacturing of textile (see quotation in (g)) and steel moved East, UK has had few industries to boast of.

(g) "In time, other factories surpassed fabric mills in sophistication, until textiles had become relatively labor-intensive and low-value-added. And so, beginning late in the 20th century, the sector started its move back to low-wage Asia, where today it constitutes more than half the industrial output of both India and China."