Smuggling and subterfuge ensured that the market remained supplied legal attempts to foil calico consumption were eventually abandoned.Ĭotton and prints became accepted as facts of life. From 1774 to 1811, cottons woven with three blue selvage threads could be printed for export and a tax drawback obtained. This was augmented twenty years later by prohibitions against using or wearing painted, printed, or dyed cottons made at home, with the exception of printed linens or fustians (linen warp with cotton weft) which were taxed. In 1701, established English manufacturers got similar satisfaction, notably in the form of prohibitions against using, wearing, and importing calicos except for reexport. To protect its own textile manufacturers, France enacted a complex succession of prohibitions against importing, printing, wearing, and using chintes and cottons, effectively destroying its own opportunities from 1686 to 1759. The path to commercial success was not straightforward. The unsold remainders were sold in the West Indies for slave clothing and returned in the form of tobacco and sugar. They discovered lucrative markets in West Africa where, in the 1630s, they began selling special checked and striped calico as barter for slaves. Fine and heavy linens both could be replaced by the more affordable cottons the chintes or prints were like nothing else.Įnglish traders further expanded their operations by selling calicos to other companies that profitably exported them to Europe and the old-established Mediterranean and Levantine markets. These generated a voracious European market by the 1660s calico imports had become big business. Thus enmeshed in calico trading, the traders sent quantities of the cheapest-probably left-overs-and some of the most luxurious kinds back home on private speculation or as curiosities. Fascinating Calico Cat Behavior and Personality TraitsĮarly in their enterprise, Portuguese, Dutch, and English spice traders learned to appreciate cotton because the spice islanders would not sell their merchandise reasonably for anything other than their preferred Indian cloths-or opium.What Makes Male Calico Cats Unique? Myths vs.They knew-or desired-little of the cottons, although Armenian entrepreneurs managed a calico trade along with spices and silks. Through their Mediterranean trade connections, wealthy Europeans had enjoyed imported spices and Indian quilted silks. Centuries before European traders disembarked in India, a wide range of Indian calicos, including painted or printed ones called chintes, were carried by Arab traders to Turkey, the Levant, and North Africa as well as Southeast Asia.
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