Cotton Supply Association
Topic: Colonial Economy: Land Revenue, Drain, Deindustrialisation · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 1 "Colonialism and the Countryside"
Meaning
The Cotton Supply Association was set up in Britain in 1857 by cotton manufacturers. They were worried that their mills depended almost entirely on cotton from the American slave states. Its aim was to get cotton grown in every suitable part of the world, especially India. It shows how Britain treated India as a supplier of raw materials for its factories.
Example
After 1857 the association pushed for more cotton growing in India. When the American Civil War (1861–65) cut off American cotton, India filled the gap. By 1862, over 90 per cent of Britain's cotton imports came from India.
Don't confuse with
- Manchester Cotton Company: this was formed in 1859, two years later, as a company working for the same goal. The Cotton Supply Association of 1857 was a lobby group of manufacturers, not a trading company.
Related concepts
- Surat
- Gomastha
- System of advances
- Deindustrialisation
- American Civil War
- Manchester Cotton Company
- Bombay Gazette