The story of perfume goes back to Egypt, although it was widespread in East Asia as well. Early perfumes were based on incense, not chemicals, so aromas were passed around through fumes. The Roman and Islamic cultures further refined the harvesting and manufacturing of perfumery processes to include other aromatic ingredients.
Thus, the ancient Islamic culture marked the history of contemporary perfumery with the advent of spices and herbs. Fragrances and other exotic substances, such as Jasmine and Citruses, were adapted to be harvested in climates outside of their indigenous Asia.
The extraction of scents was improved through steam distillation. In turn, the Islamic cultural creation of fragrances and distillation innovation inspired the scientific communities of western culture during the fourteenth century, especially in France, which brought further cultivation of these raw materials and introduced chemical-based perfume.
Modern technology in the history of perfume can be credited to the West, but the cultural envisioning still belonged to Islam: "The taking of a bath on Friday is required for every male Muslim who has attained the age of puberty [and then] the using of perfume if it is accessible." (a claim made by The Prophet Mohammed, which is also recorded in Sahih Bukhari).
The use of spiced and fragranced perfume during the Renaissance was exclusive to the royalty and wealthy for the purpose of covering body odors pertinent to their sanitary habits. Thus, perfumery as an industry was established in the West. This is where the origins of perfume denotes the affiliation of perfume with the well to do.
It wasnt until the eighteenth century that the Grasse region of France exploited aromatic plants to account for the growing demand for fragranced and spiced perfumes. Perfumery flourished! The world history of perfume came to a head. France is still the perfume center of modern-day Europe, which trades with the United States.
The latter, however, has based its own perfume industry and exchanges with the rest of the globe. Perfumery is now a global affair and serves as a major division of the world fashion industry. The history of perfume is now globally involved.
Perfume is one of those products that may influence our emotions. People`s sense of smell influences behavior and sets different moods. It may even bring up memories of the past. As a marketing tool, perfume is also present in our everyday lives and it can be found in lots of consumer products. Besides the fact that perfume is so popular, have you ever wandered how it came into being what it is today? What`s the history of perfume?
Some anthropologists say that perfume was used by primitive man thru the burning of gums and resins for incense. Eventually from 7000 to 4000 bc, richly scented plants, animal and fatty oils of olive and sesame are thought to have been combined with fragrant plants to create original ointments.
Three thousand years ago in ancient Egypt, historians believe that perfume was first used in rituals, as part of their religious ceremonies, creating a pleasant smell. These scents came from gums, resin trees, oil and from a variety of plants resulting in a perfume unguent that was rubbed into the skin. Hundreds of years later, women of Egypt were using perfume for their cosmetic qualities. It is believed that Egytptian queen Cleopatra had her own exclusive balms and scents used as cosmetics and aphrodisiac, which helped her to conquer Julius Caesar and later Mark Anthony. Also from this same era, it is believed that perfume was used in Mesopotamia for ritual ceremonies. And farther east, in China, aromatic herbs were used for medicine purposes.
Later on as trade routes expanded, perfume became very popular and demand for scent products increased trade among different civilizations. Africa and India started to supply Middle Eastern civilization with spikenard and ginger. Syrians sold fragrant goods to Arabia. Mediterranean civilization began buying cymbopogon and ginger from South Arabia. And so the trade of scent goods kept on, and as it continued to swell, fragrance perfume was eventually introduced thru time to several civilizations such as Hindus, Israelites, Carthaginians, Arabs, Greeks, Romans and finally reintroduced hundreds of years later in Italy and France.
By the 13th century Italy was doing major trades of spices and perfumes with Eastern civilizations. Portugal and Spain were also trying to establish important trades of spices by having exclusive routes to the East. That`s how the new world of America got to be discovered.
As Italian perfume influence swept over neighboring countries, France began expanding the use of perfume by first offering perfumed gloves, which were most often perfumed with neroli or animal scents such as ambergris and civet. From then on, French perfume has become famous worldwide and today sets the standard for excellence.
Also France played a major role in reestablishing the use of perfume for therapeutic purposes in the western world. It has been reported that during Word War II, therapeutic perfume had been used in the treatment of wounds and burns, and later in the treatment of psychiatric problems.
Perfume has brought different people together in the past thru the trade of aromatic scents. It also played a major deal, since its trade meant economical power for the nations. And so the history of modern man has been greatly influenced by this special product, enabling new worlds to be discovered. On a personal level, perfume is capable of influencing people`s behavior and that by itself sets perfume in class by itself. Perhaps that`s what makes it so desirable by all of us.
Roberto Sedycias IT Consultant for PoloMercantil
This article is under GNU FDL license and can be distributed without any previous authorization from the author. However the author´s name and all the URL´s (links) mentioned in the article and biography must be kept.
Both John Thompson & Roberto Sedycias are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
John Thompson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Home Management, Babies and Hearing Aids. are found at our site.. John Thompson's top article generates over 823000 views. to your Favourites.
Roberto Sedycias has sinced written about articles on various topics from GPS Cell Phones, Writing and Movie Reviews. This article can also be accessed in portuguese language from the News Article section of page