Few agricultural commodities have influenced world history as dramatically as the humble cotton. And not some distant, unrecognisable antiquity, but times far closer to the present. Less than two centuries ago, these feathery balls nearly split America into two, triggered a civil war, propelled Bombay into metropolitan stardom, and birthed the oldest stock exchange in Asia. All in a space of 10 years. How did one commodity manage to influence so much of our story in such a short span of time? Let's find out.