Editing Muslin (section)

=== Mughal period ===
{{See also|Muslin trade in Bengal}}
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| image1            = Renaldis muslin woman.jpg
| caption1          = A woman in Bengal wearing Dhaka Muslin, titled ''Muslim Lady Reclining'' by [[Francesco Renaldi]] (1789)
| image2            = Muslin transparency 2015 Kolkata.jpg
| caption2          = In 2015, the diaphanous quality of muslin woven at [[Sonargaon]] in the 18th century is being tested in [[Kolkata]].
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The muslin industry flourished in Bengal between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. The main muslin production centers in Bengal during this period were Dhaka and its surrounding areas, [[Shantipur]], [[Malda district|Malda]] and [[Hooghly district|Hooghly]]. The 16th-century English traveller [[Ralph Fitch]] lauded the muslin he saw in [[Sonargaon]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Shamim |first1=Shahid Hussain |last2=Selim |first2=Lala Rukh |year=2007 |chapter=Handloom Textiles |editor-last=Selim |editor-first=Lala Rukh |title=Art and Crafts |series=Cultural survey of Bangladesh series |volume=8 |publisher=Asiatic Society of Bangladesh |page=552 |oclc=299379796}}</ref> He visited India in 1583, described [[Sonargaon]], "as a town&nbsp;... where there is the best and finest cloth made in all India". During the reign of Emperor [[Jahangir]], [[Islam Khan Chishti]] shifted the capital from [[Rajmahal]] to Dhaka in 1610&nbsp;AD, Dhaka gained prominence as the center of trade and commerce of Bengal. During this period the muslin produced in Dhaka achieved excellence, and the muslin produced here became world famous as ''Dhakai muslin''. Mughal Emperor Akbar's courtier, [[Abul Fazal]], praised the fine cotton fabric produced in Sonargaon (near Dhaka). Abul Fazl wrote "the Sarkar of Sonargaon produces a species of muslin very fine and in great quantity". European traders began arriving in the Bengali capital of Dhaka in the early seventeenth century, and these traders procured cotton cloth and muslin from Bengal for export to Europe.

After the establishment of [[Murshidabad]] as the capital of Bengal, [[Cossimbazar]]—a small town on the banks of the Bhagirathi south of Murshidabad city, now included in the Baharampur municipality—became the center of a silk and cotton textile trade. The branch of the Bhagirathi that joined the Jalangi was called Cossimbazar river, and the triangular land surrounded by the Padma, Bhagirathi and Jalangi was called Cossimbazar Island. It was a major trading center for muslin and silk and a trading post (''kuthi'') of various European merchants. In 1670&nbsp;AD, [[Streynsham Master]] mention that muslin was produced at Malda, Shantipur, Hooghly etc. Advaitacharya Goswami's ''Shantipur Parichaẏa'', Volume II mentions that the East India Company purchased £150,000 worth of muslin annually in the early 19th century.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] [[Bengal Subah|Bengal]] emerged as the foremost muslin exporter in the world, with Mughal [[Dhaka]] as capital of the worldwide muslin trade.<ref name="Eaton1996">{{Cite book |last=Eaton |first=Richard Maxwell |year=1996 |title=The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gKhChF3yAOUC&pg=PA202 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-20507-9 |page=202 |access-date=13 February 2016 |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404212612/https://books.google.com/books?id=gKhChF3yAOUC&pg=PA202 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Karim |first=Abdul |year=2012 |chapter=Muslin |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Muslin |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]] |access-date=31 October 2015 |archive-date=5 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705005108/http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Muslin |url-status=live }}</ref> It became highly popular in 18th-century France and eventually spread across much of the Western world. Dhaka muslin was first showcased in the UK at The [[Great Exhibition]] of the Works of Industry of All Nations in 1851.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gorvett |first=Zaria |title=The ancient fabric that no one knows how to make |url=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210316-the-legendary-fabric-that-no-one-knows-how-to-make |access-date=2023-06-06 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en |archive-date=10 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710061655/https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210316-the-legendary-fabric-that-no-one-knows-how-to-make |url-status=live }}</ref>