Editing Cotton (section)

====Kingdom of Kush====
Cotton (''Gossypium herbaceum'' Linnaeus) may have been domesticated 5000 BC in eastern [[Sudan]] near the Middle Nile Basin region, where cotton cloth was being produced.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/ancient_egyptian_cotton/|title=Ancient Egyptian cotton unveils secrets of domesticated crop evolution|website=www2.warwick.ac.uk|access-date=2016-11-21}}</ref> Around the 4th century BC, the cultivation of cotton and the knowledge of its spinning and weaving in [[Meroë]] reached a high level. The export of textiles was one of the sources of wealth for Meroë. Ancient Nubia had a "culture of cotton" of sorts, evidenced by physical evidence of cotton processing tools and the presence of cattle in certain areas. Some researchers propose that cotton was important to the Nubian economy for its use in contact with the neighboring Egyptians.<ref name="Yvanez & Wozniak 2019">{{cite journal |last1=Yvanez |first1=Elsa |last2=Wozniak |first2=Magdalena M. |title=Cotton in ancient Sudan and Nubia: Archaeological sources and historical implications |journal=Revue d'ethnoécologie |date=30 June 2019 |issue=15 |doi=10.4000/ethnoecologie.4429 |s2cid=198635772 |doi-access=free }}</ref> [[Kingdom of Aksum|Aksumite]] King [[Ezana]] boasted in his inscription that he destroyed large cotton plantations in Meroë during his conquest of the region.<ref>{{cite book | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=gB6DcMU94GUC&q=cultivation+cotton+Meroe&pg=PA310 | title= Ancient civilizations of Africa |author= G. Mokhtar | publisher= Unesco. International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa |page= 310 |via = Books.google.com |access-date= 2012-06-19 |isbn= 978-0-435-94805-4|date= 1981-01-01}}</ref>

In the Meroitic Period (beginning 3rd century BCE), many cotton textiles have been recovered, preserved due to favorable arid conditions.<ref name="Yvanez & Wozniak 2019"/> Most of these fabric fragments come from Lower Nubia, and the cotton textiles account for 85% of the archaeological textiles from Classic/Late Meroitic sites.<ref name=Yvanez2018/> Due to these arid conditions, cotton, a plant that usually thrives moderate rainfall and richer soils, requires extra irrigation and labor in Sudanese climate conditions. Therefore, a great deal of resources would have been required, likely restricting its cultivation to the elite.<ref name=Yvanez2018>{{cite journal |last1=Yvanez |first1=Elsa |title=Clothing the Elite? Patterns of Textile Production and Consumption in Ancient Sudan and Nubia |journal=Fasciculi Archaeologiae Historicae |date=2018 |volume=31 |pages=81–92 |doi=10.23858/FAH31.2018.006 |url=https://rcin.org.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?showContent=true&id=67584 }}</ref> In the first to third centuries CE, recovered cotton fragments all began to mirror the same style and production method, as seen from the direction of spun cotton and technique of weaving.<ref name=Yvanez2018/> Cotton textiles also appear in places of high regard, such as on funerary stelae and statues.<ref name=Yvanez2018/>