Cotton Cultivation in India

Timeline

1. 1451–1453Delhi Sultanate (Lodi Dynasty) · North IndiaBahlul Lodi (accession 1451) established the Lodi Dynasty, reimposing land tax (kharaj) on the cotton-producing regions of the Ganges-Yamuna basin in North India and bringing agricultural output into a new fiscal system; cotton farmers in Punjab and the Doab were placed under state supervision, and cotton trade was subject to the sultanate's tariff system.
2. 1453–1457Port of Cambay (Cambay / Khambhat) · GujaratThe Gujarat Sultanate, leveraging the deep-water port of Cambay, exported large quantities of local cotton yarn, cloth, and raw cotton to Hormuz, Aden, Malindi, and Malacca; before the Portuguese arrival in the Indian Ocean (1498), Cambay was one of the world's most important cotton trade hubs, where Arab and Persian merchants established permanent trading houses, facilitating cross-regional circulation of cotton cultivation knowledge.
3. 1457–1460Deccan Plateau black soil belt (Berar region) · Deccan PlateauThe province of Berar under the Bahmani Sultanate developed a high-density cotton cultivation zone based on the Deccan black soil (regur); the long-staple cotton produced was spun by artisans and distributed in Bidar; the sultanate granted land exemptions to weaver communities (julaha caste) to stabilize output, and the resulting cloth was transshipped through Goa's port into the Indian Ocean trade network, making the Deccan one of South Asia's twin cores of cotton spinning alongside Gujarat.