Editing Cotton (section)

====Europe====
[[File:Mandeville cotton.jpg|thumb|Cotton plants as imagined and drawn by [[John Mandeville]] in the 14th century]]
During the late medieval period, cotton became known as an imported fiber in northern Europe, without any knowledge of how it was derived, other than that it was a plant. Because [[Herodotus]] had written in his ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'', Book III, 106, that in India trees grew in the wild producing wool, it was assumed that the plant was a tree, rather than a shrub. This aspect is retained in the name for cotton in several Germanic languages, such as German ''[[wikt:Baumwolle|Baumwolle]]'', which translates as "tree wool" (''Baum'' means "tree"; ''Wolle'' means "wool"). Noting its similarities to wool, people in the region could only imagine that cotton must be produced by plant-borne sheep. [[John Mandeville]], writing in 1350, stated as fact that "There grew there [India] a wonderful tree which bore tiny lambs on the endes of its branches. These branches were so pliable that they bent down to allow the lambs to feed when they are hungry." (See [[Vegetable Lamb of Tartary]].)[[File:Vegetable lamb (Lee, 1887).jpg|thumb|right|The [[Vegetable Lamb of Tartary]]]]
Cotton manufacture was introduced to Europe during the [[Umayyad conquest of Hispania|Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula]] [[Muslim conquest of Sicily|and Sicily]]. The knowledge of cotton weaving was spread to northern Italy in the 12th century, when [[Norman conquest of southern Italy|Sicily was conquered by the Normans]], and consequently to the rest of Europe. The [[spinning wheel]], introduced to Europe circa 1350, improved the speed of cotton spinning.<ref name=Middle>{{cite web|title = Technology in the Middle Ages|author = Backer, Patricia|access-date = 12 June 2011|work = History of Technology|url = http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/pabacker/history/middle.htm|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130508045210/http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/pabacker/history/middle.htm|archive-date = 8 May 2013}}</ref> By the 15th century, [[Venice]], [[Antwerp]], and [[Haarlem]] were important ports for cotton trade, and the sale and transportation of cotton fabrics had become very profitable.<ref name=Facts>{{cite encyclopedia|title = cotton|author = Volti, Rudi|encyclopedia = The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Society|year = 1999|url = http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE49\&iPin=ffests0220}}</ref>