Archaeological surveys and studies have indicated that the people of
Harrapan civilization were familiar with weaving and spinning cotton as early as four thousand years ago. Reference to weaving and spinning materials is found in the
Vedic Literature. There was textile trade in India during the early centuries. Cotton fragments from
Gujarat have been found in tombs of
Egypt, indicating the existence of export of Indian textiles to Egypt during the medieval era. Large quantities of north Indian silks were traded through the
Silk Road in China to the western countries(130 B.C.E. - 1453 C.E.). to meet the need of the European industries during
Industrial Revolution, apart from the domestic requirement at the
Indian Ordnance Factories. clad dressed in fine
Bengali muslin, 18th century Up until the 18th century,
Mughal Empire was the primary center of
manufacturing in
international trade. Up until 1750, India produced about 25% of the world's
industrial output. The largest manufacturing industry in
Mughal Empire (16th to 18th centuries) was
textile manufacturing, particularly
cotton textile manufacturing, which included the production of
piece goods,
calicos, and
muslins, available unbleached and in a variety of colours. The cotton textile industry was responsible for a large part of the empire's international trade. Bengal cotton textiles were the most important manufactured goods in world trade in the 18th century, consumed across the world from the
Americas to
Japan. As
Karl Marx noted in 1853, the textile industry was a major component of economic income in the pre-colonial Indian economy, writing that "The hand-loom and the spinning-wheel, producing their regular myriads of spinners and weavers, were the pivots of the structure of that society". Bengal accounted for more than 50% of
textiles and around 80% of silks imported by the Dutch from Asia and marketed it to the world, and
Bengali muslin textiles from Dhaka were sold in
Central Asia, where they were known as "daka" textiles.
European fashion, for example, became increasingly dependent on textiles and silks imported from The Mughal Empire. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, The Mughal Empire accounted for 95% of British imports from
Asia, conducted through the auspices of the
East India Company (EIC). After the
abolition of slavery in British Empire, manufactures in Britain started to look for alternative sources of cheap cotton, eventually settling on the East India Company's possession in India. The EIC convinced many farmers to switch from subsistence farming to producing and exporting huge amounts of cotton, after a long period of government protectionism imposed over the British textile industry. Eventually, through the technical and marketing advances made possible by colonisation, the traditional method of artisan textile production declined significantly, and replaced with large scale factory production. == Cotton ==