Cotton

Cotton (from Arabic ''qutn'') is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose and may contain minor percentages of waxes, fats, pectins, and water. Under natural conditions, cotton bolls facilitate the dispersal of the seeds.

The plant is a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, Africa (including Egypt) and India. The greatest diversity of wild cotton species is found in Mexico, followed by Australia and Africa. Cotton was independently domesticated in the Old and New Worlds.

The fiber is most often spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable, and durable textile. The use of cotton for fabric is known to date to prehistoric times; the presence of ''Gossypium barbadense'' has been identified at a site in Nanchoc District, Peru, and dated to the 7th-6th millennia BC, while indigo blue dyed textile fragments, dated to the 4th-3rd millennia BC, having been found at Huaca Prieta, in Peru. Fragments of a cotton thread, used to connect a string of eight copper beads, and dated to the sixth millennium BC has been found at Mehrgarh, Kachi, Pakistan. Although cultivated since antiquity, it was the invention of the cotton gin that lowered the cost of production and led to its widespread use, and it is the most widely used natural fiber cloth in clothing today.

Current estimates for world production are about 25 million tonnes or 110 million bales annually, accounting for 2.5% of the world's arable land. India is the world's largest producer of cotton. The United States has been the largest exporter for many years.

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