HISTORY 17 



indicated, England procured cotton (but most probably Indian 

 manufactured goods mainly) from the Levant, since the name is 

 mentioned as that of an ordinary commodity. Columbus discovered Discovery 

 in 1492 the West Indies and America. The Spaniards, on their America 

 arrival in the New World, found cotton being cultivated and manu- 

 factured from the West Indies to Peru, and from Mexico to Brazil. 

 In 1498 Vasco da Jrama sailed for India round the Cape of Good 

 Hope. The succe s of that expedition gave to Western Europe a 

 direct route to India, and struck a severe blow at the commercial 

 supremacy of Venice and Genoa. ' Thus, previous to the discovery 

 of America and the West Indies, and for some time afterwards, 

 England and probably all Europe were supplied with cotton from 

 the Levant.' (Milburn, ' Or. Com.,' 1813, n. 279-82.) 



The Sixteenth Century. English colonies began to be established Africa, 

 in North America. In 1516 Odoardo Barbosa found the inhabitants 

 of South Africa growing cotton and wearing cotton garments. 

 Down to the close of the sixteenth century England obtained her Early 

 cotton (a small demand) from the Levant, and her supplies of Indian En 8 li8 b 

 cotton goods via the Mediterranean ports. Cortez discovered (1519) 

 that the inhabitants of Mexico possessed much knowledge and skill Mexico, 

 in cotton manufacture, and he sent an assortment of their goods to 

 the King of Spain. (Clavigero, ' Hist. Mex.') As late as 1641 we 

 read that ' the town of Manchester buys cotton-wool in London that 

 comes first from Cyprus and Smyrna.' The supply, if any, from 

 the West Indies must accordingly have been very insignificant. 

 The early historians of Brazil (Beauchamp, De Souza, St. Hilaire, Brazil, 

 &c.) affirm that a cotton plant was found indigenous there and that 

 the Natives made use of it to supply the cotton of their simple 

 needs. In Bahia it must have been cultivated, however, since De 

 Souza speaks of it (1570-87) as cleaned with the hoe, two or three 

 times a year. Magellan (1519) found the people of Brazil using ' a 

 vegetable down ' in making their beds and in spinning thread, &c. 

 Pizarro, in 1522, found cotton in Peru, and it has since been Peru, 

 recognised in the ancient tombs of that country. De Vica is 

 reported to have, in 1536, discovered a wild cotton in Texas and United 

 Louisiana. Similar reports have subsequently been spasmodically wild 

 made, but no qualified botanist has critically studied the wild cotton, 

 species of Gossypium that exist in the American Continent and 

 Islands, and thus the stories of travellers have not been confirmed. 

 When first made known to Europe, the American Continent 



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