Document 8b
the british desire for raw cotton from india influenced the development of the british textile industry and
great britain’s relationship with india.
… inevitably, indian cotton had the makings of a contentious [controversial] political issue.
by depriving india of the fruits of its own labor, england all but guaranteed that the crop
would one day come to symbolize colonial subjugation [control] and provide a rallying point
against it. when that day finally arrived in the early 190os, a frail warrior with the heart of a
lion, mahatma gandhi, intertwined the destinies of homespun cotton and self-rule so adroitly
[skillfully] that he made one indistinguishable from the other. freedom became the cotton
cloth you wove and wore, a tangible [visible] protest against tyranny from abroad.…
source: stephen yafa, cotton: the biography of a revolutionary fiber, penguin books
according to stephen yafa, what effect did the british cotton textile industry have on india? [1]