A Study of Cotton Trade and Trade in Africa Essays

Along with the demand for cotton came a demand for labor. Black slaves from Africa were used to hand pick cotton in cotton fields, a tedious and daunting job. After Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin, cotton production skyrocketed from the average 3,000 bails per year to 300,000 bails per year. Unlike the north, the south lacked transportation improvements such as railways, roads, and water canals.

Economic and social differences between the north and the south was one of the events of slavery leading up to the Civil War. When the cotton gin was invented in 1793, cotton became a very profitable crop. Before the invention of the cotton gin, it would take one slave a day to remove the seeds from two pounds of cotton. After the invention of the cotton gin, it could be used to clean two pounds of cotton in just half an hour. With the invention of the cotton gin came an increase in the number of plantations willing and wanting to move from other crops to cotton. The south raised rice, sugar, and indigo, but cotton was its main crop. This move from other crops to cotton would cause for a greater need for a larger amount of laborers, meaning a greater need for slaves. The south, becoming a one crop economy, then became more dependent on cotton, thus more dependent on slaves. The north, on the other hand, was less focused on crops and

During the time of the Civil War, there were slaves working on farmers, these slaves were not compensated for their labor and services and were producing cotton for a little to nothing cost. Since the Civil War, America has produced an immense amount of cotton and would export it to different parts of the world. America has also had enough workers to meet the exact supply and demand, which follows the demand policy. Correspondingly, the manifest destiny caused for cotton growers further west. Due to the cotton growers going further out west, cotton became easier to grow and easier to protect. These technological advancements simplified the process by which people were able to grow cotton and export it to China for the workers to create these shirts. There are now many subsidiary industries to cotton; industries are always producing new clothes every day. Due to this

The earliest factories in England came up by the 1730s and, with the technology enabled production processes like carding, twisting, spinning and rolling became faster and easier consequentially, between 1760 and 1787 raw cotton imports to British cotton industry rose from 2.5 million pounds to 22 million pounds. On the contrary, the traditional market of cotton cloth from India witnessed a steady decline from 30 per cent around 1800 to 15 per cent by 1815 and to 3 percent in 1870s. While exports of cloth declined rapidly, export of raw materials increased equally fast. Between 1812 and 1871, the share of raw cotton exports rose from 5 per cent to 35 per cent. This was not something triggered by the industrial revolution but the protectionist measures of the British t which imposed tariffs on cloth imports. The creation of cotton mill by Richard Arkwright brought processes under one roof and management, allowing better supervision, quality control, and the regulation of labour. Thus not only the trade the way business of production was handled also underwent a quantum change.

but it became profitable in Europe as well (“Statement of Stock of Cotton in Great Britain,”

There was no money crop whatsoever; the only variety of cotton that would grow in that region was the practically useless green seed variety. Ten hours of manual work was needed to separate one point of lint from three pounds of the small tough seeds. Until some kind of machine could be built to do the work, the green seed cotton was little better than a weed.

Growing hemp is a much more sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to cotton. “Cotton uses 1400 gallons of water to produce one pound of cotton, while hemp requires half that amound of water while producing 2.5 times more fiber than cotton. Cotton uses 25 percent of the world’s insecticides and 10 percent of the world’s pesticides. Hemp clothing is more durable, and when wet, the materials expand and become stronger. *Hemp also requires little to no pesticides. !!Replacing al or much of the world’s cotton crops with hemp would result in using 5 times less water to get the same yield. Replacing cotton with hemp would also remove almost 25 percent global insecticide use

Cotton like sugar is easy to grow, but requires a lot of tedious work and labor.

After the invention of the cotton gin was invented, American cotton moved in ever-greater quantities to the factories of Europe. The cotton industry was among the world’s largest industries at midcentury, drawing on the labor of 20 million workers.

Due to this, the economy of America at this period of time was centred around cotton and as Clement Eaton stated, 'After the invention of the cotton gin in 1793, the tempo of life in the South quickened.' The industry was able to achieve large profits through the use of slaves-the cheapest labour of all-and eventually 'Three-fourths of the world's supply of cotton came from the southern states.'

As a result America started to produce three quarters of the world’s supply of cotton, allowing for big businesses to mass produce cloth. Cotton soon became “king” exceeding the value of all other products in America combined.

With the economic system, the south had a very hard time producing their main source “cotton and tobacco”. “Cotton became commercially significant in the 1790’s after the invention of a new cotton gin by Eli Whitney. (PG 314)” Let

After the invention of the cotton gin, the yield of raw cotton doubled each decade after 1800. Demand was fueled by other inventions of the Industrial Revolution, such as the machines to spin and weave it and the steamboat to transport it. By mid-century America was growing three-quarters of the world's supply of cotton, most

     After the invention of the cotton gin, the production of unprocessed cotton doubled each decade after 1800. Other inventions of the Industrial Revolution were the machines to spin and weave cotton and the steamboat to transport it. America was growing three quarters of the world's supply of cotton in the mid-century. Most of it was shipped to England or New England where it was made into cloth. During this time, tobacco’s value decreased, rice exports stayed at the same price, and sugar began to flourish, but only

of crops like corn, soybean, cotton, canola and sugar beets grown in the United States are now