The United Nations has compiled a report to understand industrial hemp. In it, they also touch on the history of hemp (cannabis) as a fiber. I have translated and summarized that section below.
Source: Commodities at a Glance: Special Issue on Industrial Hemp
(Excerpt translation)
The history of cannabis cultivation (the plant that provides hemp) is very old, said to go back about 6,000 years. Humanity has historically used it as a material (fiber and building material), as food, as medicine, and in rituals. Especially in many regional cultures in East Asia, every part of the plant was used, with oil extracted from the seeds.
Historical records of cultivating cannabis specifically to extract fiber (textile hemp) exist in China, dating back to around 2800 BC. In ancient Egyptian civilization and in Europe since the Copper and Bronze Ages, hemp was cultivated and its fibers were put to use.
The plant was introduced to South America (Chile) in the 1500s, and about 100 years later it reached North America.
From the 16th to the 18th centuries, hemp became an indispensable fiber for canvas (cloth used for ship sails) during the Age of Discovery.
In around the 1st century AD, hemp paper was developed, and until the 19th century this plant was widely used in papermaking. This shows that hemp was also an important agricultural crop for the paper industry over a long history (the U.S. Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper).
The following photo (source: Alliance for Linen and Hemp website) shows the Declaration of Independence written on hemp paper.
From the late 19th to early 20th century, as ships switched from wind power to self-propulsion with coal or electric motors, the use of hemp for sailcloth decreased.
The Industrial Revolution also advanced globalized cotton production. From the 18th century onward, efficiency in cotton spinning increased, making it possible to mass-produce cheap, easily available cotton fabric.
From 1924, beginning with acetate, various synthetic fibers were developed that could provide strong and inexpensive raw materials.
All these factors formed the background to the decline in demand for textile hemp.
Then, in the early 20th century, some social and industrial interests began promoting prohibition of all cannabis cultivation, including textile hemp. By 1935, most states in the U.S. had banned cultivation. This ban then spread to many countries around the world.
In recent years, since the 1990s, cannabis cultivation bans have been lifted in many countries (Australia—Tasmania in 1990, the UK in 1993, Germany in 1995). This is due both to the general need to find new profitable crops and natural raw materials, and to the growing demand from consumers for more sustainable products.
(Excerpt ends)
This report does not mention it, but the phrase “some social and industrial interests” probably refers to, for example, lobbying by the U.S. cotton industry. The global spread of cannabis cultivation bans is often tied to marijuana, which was of course a major factor, but recent research indicates that pressure from the Cotton Union—one of the largest textile industry lobbying groups in the United States—also played a role. The background to prohibition is multifaceted, and further historical research and study are needed.
