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Indian Calico Cotton Cloth

Type Object Region South Asia Time c. 1300

Calico refers to fine printed or plain-weave cotton cloth produced in the Indian subcontinent, named after the Malabar Coast trading port of Calicut.

Timeline

  1. c. 1300–1498Malabar and Coromandel coasts · South IndiaSouth Indian weavers and dye works produced patterned cloth using woodblock resist printing and finely spun cotton yarn, exporting it via Red Sea and Persian Gulf trade routes to Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, and Europe, with Calicut as an important entrepôt.
  2. c. 1541–1550Goa and Coromandel ports · Tamil NaduIn the 1540s, Portuguese trading posts ordered large quantities of calico from the Coromandel and Gujarat coasts, transshipped via Goa to Lisbon and Antwerp; Indian cotton cloth became a European luxury and intermediate good, spurring local weavers to expand capacity and innovate patterns.

Sources