European traders first encounter fine cotton cloth from India carried by arab merchants in mosul in present india carried by arab merchants in mosul in present day iraq ao they began referring to all finely woven textiles aa Muslim a word that acquired wide currency when the Portuguese first came to India in search of spices they landed in Calicut on kerala coast in south were india the cotton textiles which they took back to Europe along with the spices came to be called vslico derived from Calicut and subsequently calico became the general name for all cotton textiles. There are many other words which point to the popularity.