Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
cotton
Table of Contents
References & Edit History Related Topics
Images & Videos
cotton plant carding machine cotton spinning
Why does some clothing shrink in the wash?
cotton cotton crop combine harvesting cotton Leme, Brazil: cotton picking boll weevil corn earworm
For Students
Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum).
cotton summary
Related Questions
Read Next
Weed. Flower. Taraxacum. Dandelion. T. officinale. Close-up of yellow dandelion flowers.
11 Questions About Useful Plants Answered
Members of The Farm, near Summertown, Tenn., load sorghum for processing into molasses at a nearby mill in Summertown, Tennessee, Dec. 7, 1971. The group, with 400 members, came to Tennessee to set up a communal life.
American Utopias
Discover
Lusitania sinking, illustration from The War of the Nations (New York), December 31, 1919. World War I, WWI. This image is one of three on the page. (See source file for the other two.)
7 of the World’s Deadliest Shipwrecks
Illustration for Demystified "How Dangerous is Quicksand"
How Deadly Is Quicksand?
Shah Jahan. Taj Mahal. Mughal architecture. Emperor Shah Jahan fifth Mughal Emperor (reigned 1628-1658) India, Himachal Pradesh, Basohli or Jammu and Kashmir, Mankot, circa 1690 Drawings; Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper (see notes)
6 Important Mughal Emperors
Easter Procession of Maria Santisima del Sacromonte in Granada, Spain. This statue is known as Virgen de los Gitanos or The Virgin of the Gypsies.
What is Holy Week?
Titanic infographic. The 30th anniversary of its discovery is September 1, 2015. SPOTLIGHT VERSION.
Timeline of the Titanic’s Final Hours
July, 2006, Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery STS-121. See attached for full caption information.
Will Light-Speed Space Travel Ever Be Possible?
Hemp (Cannabis sativa).
9 Mind-Altering Plants

cotton: Related Content

verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Share
Share to social media
URL
https://www.britannica.com/facts/cotton-fibre-and-plant
Written and fact-checked by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

News •

Sale of cotton garments picks up in Erode • Apr. 1, 2025, 2:43 AM ET (The Hindu)

Photos and Videos

cotton plant
carding machine
cotton spinning
cotton
cotton crop
combine harvesting cotton
Leme, Brazil: cotton picking
boll weevil
corn earworm
Cotton field
Why does some clothing shrink in the wash?
See All Videos and Images →

Related Topics and References

Topics
Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

Robert Owen
Robert Owen
British social reformer
David Dickson
American farmer and writer
Samuel Slater
Samuel Slater
American industrialist

Related Quizzes and Features

List
Weed. Flower. Taraxacum. Dandelion. T. officinale. Close-up of yellow dandelion flowers.
11 Questions About Useful Plants Answered