Hemp History

Short History of the Hemp Plant

Hemp has had a very long and checkered history throughout the world. There have been times when it has been almost venerated and there have also been times when it has been condemned to the lowest levels.

The history of industrial hemp can be dated as far back as the Stone Age about ten thousand years ago. Its cultivation possibly began Mesopotamia or in the Asian continent, particularly in China and Taiwan. Archeological relics such as pottery shards have been found dating back to this period which had hemp fibers in them. During this period, hemp was also used in a minor way in the manufacture of clothing materials, footwear and making ropes.

China was at the forefront in cultivating hemp going by sheer volume of yield. Domestic cultivation of hemp began in China at least eight thousand years ago, and its primary use in this country was as food. Later on, the popularity of hemp in China and its neighboring countries increased when several medicinal properties were found out for the crop.

Much later – around two thousand years back – it was discovered that hemp can be used as paper. Hemp was one of the first materials to be used in parchment. Its manufacturing methods improved over the years and it became one of the earliest forms of paper. In fact, many early versions of the Holy Bible were written on paper made from hemp.

When the medieval ages arrived, hemp was looked upon primarily as a textile material. It was the primary choice for making clothing and it was in fact much more commonly used than its near competitor, i.e. linen. Hemp was considered to be the common person’s choice and its use was popular because linen was much costlier than hemp. It was also around this time that hemp became a global phenomenon. As trade and transport increased between the nations, hemp became more and more popular. By the time the fourteenth century set in, hemp became so popular that there was no village or town that did not have a hemp field to call its own.

At around this time, hemp had become extremely famous in Europe too, especially in nations such as Germany and Italy. Hemp was mostly used in these nations as food, and was a vital ingredient in most of their baked dishes and soups.

A kind of revolution took place in the cultivation of hemp when the Americas took to cultivating it in a large way. Hemp was not introduced domestically in North America at least till 1606, when a Frenchman began the first cultivation of this plant in Nova Scotia. The popularity of hemp skyrocketed in North America within a few short years, and by the time the American Revolution broke out, this crop was cultivated in a major way in almost all the states of America. George Washington personally endorsed the crop by cultivating it himself and Thomas Jefferson even drafted the Declaration of American Independence on paper made from hemp. With the encouragement from the Presidents themselves, cultivators all over North America and even Canada took to growing hemp in their fields in a major way.

This was also a period of development of hemp in the terms of its uses. New industrial uses were discovered for the crop, and that made the crop much more popular in the continent.

However, nearer to the start of the World War II, hemp cultivation took a major setback when this crop was painted with the same brush as marijuana. Both of the plants contain cannabis, but hemp has a very insignificant amount of the narcotic as compared to marijuana. Anyways, in 1937, the Marihuana Tax Act was passed which made cultivation of hemp costlier to the cultivators, as they were taxed close to a dollar for each ounce of hemp produced.

At around the same time, cotton made a great impact as a textile fiber, and jute and bamboo became popular alternatives for making ropes and papers. Cultivators began growing these crops instead of the now costly hemp. The production of hemp underwent a steady decline and by 1960, the hemp production had declined to almost half of what it had been when the Act had been passed.

But in the 1990s, several researches were made again on hemp. It was revealed that hemp has a very little quantity of cannabis in it, and that it actually has several industrial uses in making fibers, ropes, textiles, papers and even as a hardening material. New uses in cosmetics and medicines were also found out. People began lobbying for lifting the restrictions on the cultivation of hemp all over the world. In Canada today the ban on cultivating hemp has been removed, though the cultivators need to license themselves and should have no criminal records.

Today many industrial hemp products are available online. Though hemp may still be banned in some countries, its products are not restricted. There are hopes that hemp will receive its former glory once again and this wonder crop will receive the formidable position in industry which it once occupied.