Answer :
The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 made cotton the dominant crop in the South.
- Who: Eli Whitney, an American inventor.
- What: The cotton gin, a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.
- When: The cotton gin was invented in 1793.
- Where: Eli Whitney's invention was particularly impactful in the Southern United States.
- Why: The cotton gin made the production of cotton much more efficient by significantly reducing the labor required to separate seeds from the cotton fibers.