THE CLOTHING RESTORATION PROJECT

The first blog explores the history of cotton in five different regions of the world - India, West Africa, the Islamic Empire and Central and South America. While cotton is important to many more cultures than what we have explored here, we chose to investigate the four areas where the cotton plant was domesticated, as well as West Africa for its historical impact on our present lives. In these ancient societies, everyday life was dominated by spinning and weaving. Because of the amount of time, effort, and expertise it took to make, cloth was one of the most valuable items for many societies in ancient times.

Cotton was also domesticated in East Africa likely around 500 BCE in the area around the Nile river. This cotton species, unique to this area, grows well even in times of drought. However, cotton fabric and clothing was not popular in this region until the rise of the Islamic empire, which lasted from around the 9th century to around the 14th century and spanned an area from modern Spain in the west to modern northern India in the east. Previously, cotton textiles were mostly considered a luxury imported good from India, reserved for the ruling class. With the rise of Islam, cotton clothing became popular for lower classes as well as it enabled people to conform to modesty requirements comfortably.

During this time, the use of cotton for everyday clothing and the development of a strong textile tradition around cotton in Africa and the Middle East came to be. Islamic traders spread high quality and innovative cotton fabrics across the empire, which even found their way to Medieval Europe.

In fact, the modern word “cotton” comes from the Arabic word “qutn”, and so do many English words for cotton cloths. For instance, “muslin” comes from the city Mosul in Iraq, and “gauze” is named after Gaza in Palestine where it originated.

Farmers also developed breeds of cotton that could grow in the temperate climates of Europe and Central Asia, and cotton cultivation spread out from the tropical areas where it had been confined to for thousands of years (Brite and Marston, 2013). By the late 11th century, merchants brought cotton technology to West Africa, and over the next few hundred years, cotton mastery was found in African kingdoms from east to west.

“Cotton is what one should plant, not brass; cotton is what one should plant, not beads; as for brass and beads, neither goes with one to the grave; on the day one dies, only cloth accompanies one.“- Yoruba Proverb -  (Owomoyela, 2005) 

There is archaeological evidence of cotton textiles in Hausaland (now part of Nigeria) from as early as the 9th century, but cotton cloth likely became widely produced and traded within several areas in West Africa by the 11th century. Cotton production impacted agricultural practices and created communities of spinners, weavers, dyers, tailors and textile traders (Kriger, 2005). Cotton was produced in large amounts throughout West Africa from the Guinea Coast, to Sierra Leone, to the Kingdom of Dahomey (now Benin), and Kingdom of  Mali, most of which were spun, dyed, and hand-woven by women (Kriger, 2006). The taste for textiles of all kinds in much of West Africa was so high that many societies both produced their own fabrics and imported them, and a large proportion of families would have made some kind of living from cotton cultivation and textile production (Kriger, 2006). People would collect fabrics for clothing as well as for displays of wealth, and textiles were often decorated with adornments, especially beads, forming an important and essential part of culture (Nyambura, 2012). Fine, elaborate cotton clothing was reserved for the upper classes, and strict rules emerged for who could wear what (McGregor, Akou and Stylianou, 2022).

In these production centers, cloth was woven on vertical looms in strips, which could then be sewn together into other clothing items (Kriger, 2005). Benin (formerly the Kingdom of Dahomey), the former Oyo Empire, and Mali were particularly known for producing and exporting indigo-dyed cotton cloths for export, which were coveted for their depth of color and elaborate patterns (Kriger, 2005). Other areas were well known for cloths that were woven with complex patterns as part of their structure. Cloth of all kinds was so valuable and useful that it was used as currency in the majority of West African societies and was used to facilitate trade with East Africa. Currency cloths of varying quality were woven in long strips that could be cut to be sewn into other items, like tunics and headwraps  (Frederick, 2018; Johnson, 1980). For the Yoruba, in today’s Nigeria, indigo-dyed cotton cloth was valued beyond currency; it was an essential part of life. 

“Cloth belonging to a woman in old Yorubaland follows her through countless journeys. It is the wrapper she receives from her mother when she marries. It is the oja (baby tie) she uses to carry her child. If she becomes a chief, she wears a fine glistening cloth, beaten to a high sheen. Cloth is even with her during her final journey. Her voyage into the realm of ancestors, shrouded in the cloth she wore in life, dyed for the last time an endless indigo black.” (Hamilton, 2021) – Quote on importance of Indigo cloth to Yoruba women

Communities and households would grow fiber plants (or raise fiber producing animals) alongside their food crops and spend much of their time spinning, weaving, and sewing their own textiles for everyday use or trade. An important economic aspect of each community was the creation of valuable, beautiful fabrics that could be traded or sold for whatever food or other items they could not make themselves. Textiles do not spoil or get eaten like food crops and are therefore much easier to store and transport. They are also highly desired for qualities such as their complex beauty, softness, and functionality, and can be passed down for generations as precious heirlooms. All over the world, different cultures have their own rich textile histories and traditions, each as complex as the next. 

Ancient people developed long, treacherous trade routes in order to exchange highly sought-after fabrics for other valuable goods. In fact, the legendary Silk Route in China was developed in large part because of the Roman Empire’s appetite for Chinese silk (Peters, 2019). But it was cotton that changed the world, built empires, and led to the modern economic system as we know it today (Sven Beckert, 2014).

Cotton, and the spinning and weaving of fabrics from cotton formed an important cultural and economic part of life in many ancient cultures, which share many similarities in how this was expressed. All five cultures that we explored developed complex woven cotton fabrics that were valued enormously for their beauty and functionality. Textile designs carry symbolic importance in all cultures, but have even more direct meanings that can be interpreted in cultures with strong oral traditions, like in the various West African and Indigenous Peruvian cultures. In these areas, cotton was grown on a household subsistence level alongside other crops, and this is reflected in traditional farming communities today, such as in the milpa of central America and in smallholder farms in West Africa.

Today, while traditional artisan cotton textiles made by masters are still valued in these cultures, these traditions and artisans are threatened by modern industrial cotton and mass-produced textiles of lower price and quality. In our next blog, we will detail the historical process, starting with British colonization and trade in human beings, that led to the industrial cotton industry and the capitalist economic system that we live under today.

Conclusion

The development of extraordinary fabrics and their export led to the wealth of the Kingdom of India and its position as one of the richest empires in the world until the 18th century (Dayalan, 2021).  The global appetite for Indian cottons was so huge that they were the largest manufactured product traded from the Roman Empire until the 19th century (Beckert, 2015). One fabric that the Europeans desired was Dhaka muslin, a legendary cotton fabric that was so fine it was see-through. It was made from a local breed of cotton that was so delicate that it required a complex sixteen-step process to turn into fabric, each step only known by one village around Dhaka. By the 19th century, it was the most expensive fabric in the entire world— just one yard of Dhaka muslin could cost between $9,000 and $71,000 in today’s money (Gorvett, 2021). When the British colonized India, they destroyed many of India’s local textile industries and the process for making Dhaka muslin was lost.

In these various societies, textiles also served as an essential means of communication. Textiles decorated with specific symbols, colors, and patterns held meanings that communicated information about culture, ethnic identity, societal status, and history. Kente cloths woven in what is now Ghana by the Ashanti and Ewe people were called the “cloth of kings' were—and still are— worn for specific ceremonies by high-status socio-economic status and dignitaries. Different patterns and symbols are associated with certain events, or sayings and proverbs (Kwakye-Opong, 2014). Aṣọ òkè cloth worn by the Yoruba are another intricate, ceremonial cloth, which is woven in strips and then pieced together in a process that is traditionally done by hand. Today, it is popular for family and friends to wear matching aṣọ òkè and other fabrics to signal strong familial and social ties, which is called aṣọ ẹbí (Tade, 2020).

Due to the harsh mountain environment of the Andes, clothing, especially light and warm clothing, has always been considered extremely important for survival in Peru. Cotton, alongside Alpaca and Llama fiber, have been used for thousands of years in this region to create garments and works of art that can withstand the cold and arid highlands.

Archaeologists have found cotton seeds that date back to around 5000 years ago in modern Peru, which are also some of the oldest seeds found in that area (Dillehay et al., 2007). This leads archaeologists to conclude that cotton may have been domesticated earlier than many food species in this area.

Complex woven cotton fabrics formed an important economic and social aspect of the Wari and Incan civilisations. The Wari civilization, which predates the Incan Empire, was a culture of master weavers. They wove complex geometric textiles, with patterns that signified meanings about power and influence to viewers (Cook, 1996). In Wari and Incan culture, textiles were of the highest value, and were prized as highly as precious metals (Dass, 2001). Garments worn by powerful people made use of complex and ornate patterns, which signaled meanings about power and influence to viewers. The Quechua languages of the Andes are oral languages, and weavers, mostly women, recorded thoughts, feelings, and stories through the ornate patterns of their weavings (Conklin, 1997; Silverman, 2008). At the time of the Spanish conquistadors, the Spanish marveled at the beautiful colors and patterns found in Andean cotton textiles (Beckert, 2015).

The textile tradition of the Andes continues today and is a vital part of Indigenous Andean cultural heritage.

The cultivation of cotton and weaving are skills that are informed by the deep roots of generational and ancestral knowledge. Communities gather and form around the spinning and weaving of cloth, and pass stories and knowledge down through families and generations through textile (Heckman, 2003).

Many Quechua communities still use the same technologies, such as backstrap looms, that were developed thousands of years ago to spin and weave brilliantly colored, complexly patterned textiles.

Cotton was likely domesticated in the Yucatan peninsula in present-day Mexico, possibly up to 4,000 years ago (Wendel, Brubaker and Percival, 1992). It is the cotton species from this area that is grown in 97% of cotton cultivation today (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2022).

Cotton came to be an important part of daily social, spiritual, and economic life in ancient Mayan civilizations (spanning from 2000 BC to the 10th century) and the Aztec empire (15th century to 17th century), with people of all ages involved in cotton textile production (Muriel Porter Weaver, 2020; Strawn, 2002). Like in the other cultures detailed above, cotton was traditionally grown on a subsistence level alongside other crops. Traditional agriculture from this area is called a milpa system, where multiple crops are grown together in an ecologically diverse, resilient system. In some milpas, cotton is still grown today alongside corn or squash (Vega et al., 2023).

A lot of the information we have today about the importance of cotton fiber and its preparation during Aztec civilization come from a document called the Codex Mendoza, which was commissioned around 1541 by the Spanish ruling class to document daily life in pre-conquest Aztec society. In the Codex Mendoza, baby girls are shown receiving tools for spinning cotton cloth right after their birth. Aztec girls learned how to spin cotton from childhood, and taught how to weave only when they became young adults. Cotton cloth, which was made by women in Aztec society, was so valuable and fine that the average household would not create cotton clothing for themselves, but pay it as tribute to the ruling class. Cotton cloth was so important to ancient Maya and Aztec societies that it was used to pay debts and taxes (Strawn, 2002).

Just as in all the ancient societies discussed, clothing, ways of dress, and specific patterns communicated information about spirituality, status, and personality in ancient Mayan and Aztec life (Strawn, 2002) Spanish colonization tried to extinguish Indigenous ways of life and expression in Central America starting in the 16th century (Holloway, 2011). In the fight for independence from Spanish rule, Maya clothing styles and traditional ways of spinning and weaving persisted and developed into important symbols of freedom all over Central America (Fischer, 2001). For present-day Indigenous Central Americans, including the Maya, cotton weaving and design plays an important role in preserving their cultural heritage and forms a thriving artisan industry (Pitman, 2020).

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