Who invented the cotton gin, a device that revolutionized the cotton industry?

The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 dramatically transformed the cotton industry in the United States. This device mechanized the process of separating cotton fibers from their seeds, making it significantly more efficient than the manual labor previously used. Before the cotton gin, processing cotton was labor-intensive and time-consuming, which limited the scale of cotton production.

With Whitney's invention, a single worker could produce a much larger quantity of cotton in a shorter period, leading to a boom in cotton production in the South. This innovation not only made cotton a lucrative cash crop but also solidified the economic reliance on slavery in the Southern states, as large-scale cotton farming required considerable labor.

Whitney's cotton gin had far-reaching effects, propelling the United States into a leading position in global cotton production and shaping the economic landscape of the nation in the 19th century.