COTTON : ORIGIN, HISTORY, TECHNOLOGY AND PRODUCTION BY PRASHANT KUMAR SIROHI (HARDCOVER)

Cotton is a staple fiber that grows around the seeds of the Gossypium plant, native to tropical and subtropical regions. Cultivated for over (7{,}000) years, it transformed from a hand-spun ancient luxury in the Indus Valley into a globally mechanized cash crop that sparked the Industrial Revolution. The earliest evidence of cotton use dates back to roughly (6000text{ BCE}) at the Neolithic site of Mehrgarh in the Indus Valley (modern-day Balochistan, Pakistan). Isolated civilizations in the Americas (Gossypium hirsutum) and Africa independently domesticated their own native varieties. Today, cotton is grown in over (70) countries, with major global producers including India, China, the United States, and Brazil. Modern production utilizes advanced scientific interventions, including genetic modifications like Bt cotton to resist pests like the bollworm