Until 1800 most of the raw cotton spun in England came from Asia. But Chinese and Indian cotton growers either could not or would not increase their output. They had little fresh land to exploit and little incentive either: the zemindar landlord or the imperial bureaucrat took the profit of any productivity increase. Instead it was the southern states of America that took up the opportunity. From producing an insignificant quantity of cotton in 1790, America became the world’s biggest producer by the 1820s and by 1860 was growing two-thirds of the world’s cotton. Cotton accounted for half of
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