Cotton and Native Americans
Cotton, specifically Gossypium herbaceum, has a rich and intricate history that intersects with the lives of Native Americans, particularly in the southwestern United States. This plant was independently domesticated in various regions, including coastal Peru, before spreading to North America through Central America and Mexico. The Hohokam people, who thrived in the Sonora Desert around 100 CE, were among the first in North America to cultivate cotton. They utilized this fiber to create essential items such as clothing and bags, while also extracting nutritious oil from the seeds.
The cultivation of cotton required advanced irrigation techniques, which the Hohokam developed to support their agricultural practices. Today, the Pima tribe, believed to be descendants of the Hohokam, continued to grow irrigated cotton when Spanish explorers first encountered them in the 17th century. Overall, cotton played a significant role in the agricultural and cultural practices of these Native American communities, reflecting their ingenuity and adaptability in resource management.
Cotton and Native Americans
Tribes affected: Pima and tribes of Mexico, Central America, South America
Significance: Cotton, a South American domesticate, spread to the American Southwest and was cultivated by the historic Pima for fiber and food
Cotton (Gossypium herbaceum) has a highly complex domestication history with independent domestications in both Africa and South America. All cotton in pre-Columbian America descended from that domesticated in coastal Peru sometime before 4,000 b.c.e. Cotton spread northward through Central America and Mexico, finally entering North America in the Southwest. People of the Hohokam archaeological tradition, centered in the Sonora Desert of Arizona and adjacent Mexico, were the first North Americans to use cotton, probably around 100 c.e. They used the fiber for spinning thread from which clothing, bags, and other items were woven; they also used the seed for extracting its nutritious oil. Cotton requires a considerable amount of water for successful growing, and its cultivation probably was a spur to the development of the sophisticated irrigation developed by the Hohokam. The Pima, the Sonoran Desert tribe widely believed descended from the Hohokam, were growing irrigated cotton when the Spanish first encountered them in the seventeenth century.
