Calico
Channel: all the knowledge of the universe PRINCIPIA
Date: 2021-12-10

Calico, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7521 / CC BY SA 3.0

#History_of_Kerala
#Woven_fabrics
#Indian_inventions
#History_of_Kozhikode
#Economy_of_Kozhikode
#Cotton_industry_in_India
The weave of calico sample from a shopping bag shown against a centimetre scale.
Calico （/ˈkælɪkoʊ/; in British usage since 1505） is a plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton.
It may also contain unseparated husk parts.
The fabric is far coarser than muslin, but less coarse and thick than canvas or denim.
However, it is still very cheap owing to its unfinished and undyed appearance.
The fabric was originally from the city of Calicut in southwestern India.
It was made by the traditional weavers called cāliyans.
The raw fabric was dyed and printed in bright hues, and calico prints became popular in Europe.
Calico originated in Calicut, from which the name of the textile came, in South India, now Kerala, during the 11th century, where the cloth was known as "chaliyan".
It was mentioned in Indian literature by the 12th century when the polymath and writer Hemachandra described calico fabric prints with a lotus design.
Calico was woven using Gujarati cotton from Surat for both the warp and weft.
By the 15th century, calico from Gujarat made its appearance in Cairo, then capital of the Egypt Eyalet under the Ottoman Empire.
Trade with Europe followed from the 17th century onwards.
In the 18th century, England was famous for its woollen and worsted cloth.
That industry, centered in the east and south in towns such as Norwich, jealously protected their product.
Cotton processing was tiny: in 1701 only 900,775 kilograms （1,985,868 lb） of cottonwool was imported into England, and by 1730 this had fallen to 701,014 kg （1,545,472 lb）.
This was due to commercial legislation to protect the woollen industry.
Cheap calico prints, imported by the East India Company from Hindustān （India）, had become popular.
In 1700 an Act of Parliament passed to...