Perhaps no other natural product has influenced the destiny of men as has cotton. It has clothed nations, enslaved men, monopolized labor, and given direction to entire industries.

The first historical mention of cotton was in the writings of the Greek historian Herodotus (484?-425? B.C.), who described having seen trees with fleece growing in them in India. Archeological discoveries have traced the use of cotton in India to 3000 B.C. or earlier. Cotton spread by trade to the Middle East, particularly Egypt, and in the 7th and 8th centuries, was brought to Spain by the Moors.

New World explorers found cotton fabrics being manufactured in Peru, Mexico, and what is now the southwestern U.S. Carbon 14 tests have dated the use of cotton in Peru as far back as 2500 B.C.

Europeans first planted cotton in the New World in Virginia, using seed from the...