American Civil War and Adana: The Impact of Cotton agriculture in theModernization Process

With the American Civil War in 1861, Çukurova became a part of the changeundergone worldwide and started to take its place in the cotton production net in theworld. Due to the civil war in America, which was the leading cotton producer in the world, the amount of the product decreased and the prices increased. This situation also pressed the United Kingdom for cash which was the most importantcotton customer of the day and caused their searching for new regions. Adana,having the needed capacity to meet the cotton needs, turned into a region bothsupplying the raw material for the British textile industry and an appropriate regionfor investments. Adana gained important incomes during this process whichcontinued until the start of the 20th century; and started to be the economy center ofthe Southern Anatolia. Depending on this economic development, some economic -social regulations were made which also affected the daily life. In this article, all ofthe changes occurred in various fields of the society, from economy to urbanization,as a result of the popularization of cotton production in Adana province will bedealt.