History of Apiculture

Above - Emile Warré, just who created the Warré Hive

The annals of beekeeping and honey gathering return many years. The following is an extremely brief summary of a few of the details.

Reputation For Beekeeping: Ancient Times

Firstly, viewpoints vary regarding how lengthy honey bees have been around on the planet: some sources state about 40 million years, other people claim there are fossilized stays of honey bees dating back to 150 million many years.

The earliest files of people consuming honey (and wax), are thought to day straight back 10, 000 years. This has already been indicated in primitive drawings present in caverns, whilst drawings present in Spain and believed to be around 7, 000 yrs . old, may actually show a form of beekeeping.

According to Wikipedia, the picture below is a Mesolithic rock artwork of a honey hunter harvesting honey and wax from a bees nest in a tree. At . (Dating around 8000 to 6000 BC):

The Egyptians were in addition exercising a kind of beekeeping around 2400 - 2600 years back during the ‘Old Kingdom’. at the same time, the power of fire and smoke was known, as well as in Niuserre's sunshine temple (Niuserra becoming a Pharaoh of Egypt during 5th dynasty), beekeepers were portrayed blowing smoke into hives while they removed the honey-combs. The honey would then be kept in earthenware jars.

In line with the guide ‘Bee’ by Claire Preston, the Picts (metal age people from Northern Scotland, UK), had been making honey ale between 300 – 600 BC

History Of Beekeeping: Time Line from 1500s

1538 – Spanish import 1st European honey bees to south usa.

1682 – George Wheler – an English clergyman and travel author, finds out and defines Greek hives (forerunner of contemporary hives with movable structures).

1700 – once again in accordance with the book “Bee” above, authored by Claire Preston, it wasn’t until 1700 it was understood bees gather nectar from plants with which honey is created. Before now, it absolutely was thought the honey ended up being collected because of the bees ready-made when you look at the plants!