Cotton and other textile

[Kosmo]

Textiles made from wool, hemp and flax were common in Europe since ancient times.

Cotton it's said to be cultived in India before Alexander's campaign and also there are some claims that it was cultivated in Egypt. Despite this I know nothing about cotton cultivation spread or about cotton cloth trade during roman era.

Cotton was a major trade item even before the Industrial Revolution and his absence as a trade item in Antiquity it's strange.

Silk, raw or cloth, was traded heavily on the road to China even after India, the Roman Empire and Persia started their own production despite enormous costs of the dangerous overland route.

Not even wool and woolen trade that was so lively in Europe during the Midlle Ages does not seem to have the degree of intensity and specialization during roman rule.

[Pantagathus]

Kosmo, sorry I'm just now seeing this...

 

I wouldn't say that the wool trade lacked intensity or specialization during the Roman era. All one has to do is look at the anecdotal evidence in the likes of Strabo & Pliny to see how lively & specialized it must have been. I can think of plenty of instances where they praise the wool of a particular city or country and how sought after they are & why.

 

As for cotton, the written record is a bit confused but it seems clear enough that even as early a Herodotus cotton muslins from India were known and prized trade goods. As for why it's cultivation didn't spread in antiquity, that's a darn good question.

[Kosmo]

Sure, wool was traded extensivly during the empire. After starting this topic I found some sources about it. It seems that during Constantine british textiles were well thought off.

 

Still I found nothing on cotton. There are some vague clues to cotton cloth, but nothing certain on trade and nothing at all on cultivation. The online sources don't mention the spread of this plant in Med areas. They say it was used by pharaonic egyptians and that's all. Turkey still is a major producer and Egypt, Syria and Macedonia produced a lot in the XIX C.

Maybe it was known but not used much and that would be even more strange that not been known at all.

[Pertinax]

Early BCE origin and production seems to have been Indus valley (modern Pakistan as a possible source area). Pliny is very vague (chap 26) on cotton as a possible resource(the reference is said to be a straight lift from Herodotus).Once again perhaps AD can help with likely import routes? The two main species are attested as separate cultivated economic plants in the Old and New Worlds early BCE.

I wonder if processing temperature and humidity(or lack of) were the key factors in preventing the manufacture of cotton on an industrial scale rather than as a luxury good, our own Brigantine homeland was especially suitable for cotton processing (in later history) due to its high general humidity (ie: worked fibre tended not to split easily due to dampness), and its lowish general temperature.