The fable of the "vegetable lamb of Tartary" persisted almost down to modern times.

The Moors cultivated cotton in Spain on an extensive scale, but after their expulsion the industry languished.

The East India Company imported cotton fabrics into England early in the seventeenth century, and these fabrics made their way in spite of the bitter opposition of the woolen interests, which were at times strong enough to have the use of cotton cloth prohibited by law.

But when the Manchester spinners took up the manufacture of cotton, the fight was won.

The Manchester spinners, however, used linen for their warp threads, for without machinery they could not spin threads sufficiently strong from the short-fibered Indian cotton.
In the New World the Spanish explorers found cotton and cotton fabrics in use everywhere.