It is nearly impossible to decide which plant has impacted world history the most. However, within the constraints of our class and my own knowledge, I have to choose cotton. Why, you might ask?
American History of Cotton
Well, perhaps I'm biased as a native of the Southeastern United States, home grown in a place where cotton changed history forever: Atlanta, Georgia. Cotton built Georgia's robust economy while simultaneously demanding the mass importation of slaves from Western Africa. This morally reprehensible practice ultimately led to the American Civil War, where Atlanta was burned to the ground at the hands of General Sherman. Later, after the challenging reconstruction era and the horrors of racism, the Civil Rights Movement finally occurred making Atlanta a stronghold for black American culture and racial integration. That's just a short version of the story. Needless to say, cotton had a colossal effect on The United States. However, rather than focusing on the history of America, I will instead discuss another impact that cotton had on the world: the advent of the Industrial Revolution.
 |
| Picking cotton was a grueling task |
The Industrial Revolution began in the late 1700s and marks a huge turning point in history; almost every aspect of daily life was affected in Britain and it spread to the rest of the world. Indeed, as a student of Environmental Studies I have learned over and over again that the Industrial Revolution changed the world as we know it. Not only did it it increase carbon emissions, it led to unprecedented population growth. On the positive side, people's standard of living generally improved (although I'm not sure the factory workers would agree). Why did this all happen? Well, based on the topic of my post I'm sure you can guess....
Cotton.
 |
| An image of Manchester during the Industrial Revolution, textile manufacturing hub and the world's first industrial city. |
Textile manufacturing in Britain marked the initiation of the Industrial Revolution. Early inventions and innovations include the rolling spinner machine and the spinning jenny. These new machines were produced for the sole purpose of producing cotton as quickly as possible. Indeed, "Mechanized cotton spinning powered by steam or water increased the output of a work by a factor of about 1000." Later on, American Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin which was equipped to remove the seeds from cotton, exponentially speeding up the process and reducing human labor needs. Years later, the Industrial Revolution would continue to lead to urbanization, the development of better transportation, and more. It changed the world permanently and globally, all because cotton led to the invention of new machines and labor practices. One small plant changed the world in a huge way, for better or for worse I can not be sure.
 |
| The spinning jenny, invented by James Hargreaves in 1764. |
Photo sources:
Photo 1: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e7/Cotton1943_cropped.jpg
Photo 2: http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/raised-by-dissent-forging-the-industrial-revolution-1-2943870
Photo 3: http://kids.britannica.com/elementary/art-183939/The-spinning-jenny-was-used-for-spinning-wool-and-cotton
No comments:
Post a Comment