Cotton Cultivation

Timeline

1. 1300–1350Gujarat · GujaratUpland cotton was grown in Gujarat and the Coromandel Coast; local weavers produced fine cotton cloth and dyed fabrics, exported through ports such as Cambay to the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, forming the core production zone of 14th-century Indian Ocean cotton trade.
2. 1351–1360Cairo · EgyptMamluk Egypt maintained cotton fields in the Nile Delta; workshops in Cairo and Damascus spun cotton into yarn and wove plain cloth, with some raw material imported from India, and products shipped via Mediterranean ports to Anatolia and Italian city-states.
3. c. 1355–1400Isfahan · PersiaAfter the collapse of the Ilkhanate, local Persian regimes and Anatolian beyliks continued to promote cotton cultivation; water-powered gins and spinning wheels improved processing efficiency, and cotton textiles became important goods for export earnings and tax collection.