History of herbalism facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The history of herbalism is about how people have used plants for medicine throughout time. For a very long time, before modern science, people relied on plants to treat illnesses. This history is also connected to how we use spices in food. Many spices have special compounds that can help our bodies or even stop germs from growing in food.

Today, modern medicine uses scientific evidence to create drugs, often from plants. But many people still use traditional or alternative medicines that include herbs.

Ancient Plant Power: Prehistory

People have used plants as medicine for an incredibly long time, even before writing existed! Scientists have found signs that humans were using medicinal plants as far back as 60,000 years ago. Even some animals, like monkeys, eat certain plants when they are sick.

One famous discovery was at a Neanderthal burial site called "Shanidar IV" in Iraq. Scientists found lots of pollen from eight different plant types there. Seven of these plants are still used as herbal remedies today! However, some experts now think that small animals might have brought the pollen there.

Another cool find was with Ötzi the Iceman. His body was frozen in the Alps for over 5,000 years. He had herbs with him that seem to have been used to treat parasites in his stomach.

Ancient Civilizations and Herbs

Mesopotamia: Early Writings

In ancient Mesopotamia, people started writing about herbs over 5,000 years ago. The Sumerians created clay tablets with lists of hundreds of medicinal plants, like myrrh.

Ancient Egypt: Papyrus Secrets

Ancient Egyptians also used many herbs. One important text is the Ebers Papyrus. It lists over 850 plant medicines, including garlic, juniper, castor bean, aloe, and mandrake. This papyrus describes treatments for many problems, from skin issues to limb diseases.

The Egyptians mainly focused on treating the symptoms of an illness. We don't know all the details about how they collected and prepared these remedies. But we do know that Egyptian herbal knowledge spread to other parts of the world through trade.

India: The Wisdom of Ayurveda

In India, the Ayurveda system of medicine has used herbs like turmeric for thousands of years, possibly as early as 1,000 BC. Early Sanskrit writings, like the Rig Veda, describe medical knowledge that became the basis of Ayurveda.

Later, ancient Indian herbalists like Charaka and Sushruta wrote more about herbs and minerals. The Sushruta Samhita, from the 6th century BC, describes 700 medicinal plants!

China: The First Herb Book

In China, seeds that were likely used for herbalism have been found from the Shang dynasty (Bronze Age). Legend says that the Chinese emperor Shennong wrote the first Chinese pharmacopoeia, called the "Shennong Ben Cao Jing".

This book lists 365 medicinal plants and how to use them. It includes plants like Ephedra (which gave us the drug ephedrine) and hemp. Later generations added to this knowledge, like in the Yaoxing Lun from the 7th century.

Ancient Greece and Rome: Famous Healers

Hippocrates: Father of Medicine

Hippocrates of Kos is often called the 'Father of Western Medicine'. The Hippocratic Corpus is a collection of texts linked to him and his followers. These texts show popular treatments from early ancient Greece.

Unlike other healers, Hippocrates and his group focused on logic and reason, not magic or prayers. Their remedies included common herbs like elderberries and St. John's Wort, as well as some expensive imported ones.

Galen: Merging Knowledge

Galen of Pergamon was a Greek doctor who worked in Rome. He wrote many texts about herbs, especially in his Works of Therapeutics. Galen explained how different parts of medicine work together to keep people healthy. His ideas helped pharmacists create better remedies for each person.

Diocles of Carystus: Early Herbalist

Diocles of Carystus was another important writer, sometimes called "the second Hippocrates." He is thought to have written the first complete herbal book. Even though his original texts are lost, other famous doctors like Galen quoted him often.

Pliny: Nature's Encyclopedia

Pliny the Elder wrote one of the first encyclopedias, called Natural History. This huge book included a detailed list of over 900 useful plants and drugs. Pliny saw illnesses as a "war" within nature and treatments as bringing "peace."

Dioscorides: The Expert on Drugs

Pedanius Dioscorides also created a pharmacopoeia, De Materia Medica. It listed over 1000 medicines from plants, minerals, and animals. His remedies were used widely for over 1,600 years, and he was considered the top expert on drugs.

Another important work was Theophrastus' Historia Plantarum from the 4th century BC. This was the first time someone tried to organize the plant world in a scientific way.

The Middle Ages: Preserving Knowledge

During the Middle Ages, people continued to use herbs. Some scholars believe that medieval herbal texts were just copies of older books. But others think that people actually used these books and understood the plants.

Medical students in the 5th century learned about herbalism from old Greek and Latin texts. It was challenging because much knowledge had been lost or was not fully understood. Herbalism was very important for survival since there were no modern prescription drugs.

Texts like the Herbarium were updated with new information about plants, symptoms, and where plants grew. Popular books included Bald's Leechbook and works by Dioscorides. Dioscorides was a Greek doctor and botanist from 50 AD. His five-volume work, "De materia medica," became the main source of herbal knowledge in Western Europe.

Much knowledge about herbalism came from the Middle East and Asia. Dioscorides traveled there and wrote about many foreign herbs. This helped expand trade and brought new plants to Europe, like citrus, ginger, and echinacea. These herbs were not native to Europe but became important for medicine.

Many herbs used in the Middle Ages were wild-grown, meaning they were collected directly from nature. This made herbalism available to everyone, not just scholars. Later in the Middle Ages, people started using herbs in new ways, like essential oils and ointments.

Benedictine monasteries were key places for medical knowledge in Europe. Monks copied and translated ancient Greek, Roman, and Arabic medical texts. They also had herb gardens to grow plants for simple treatments.

One famous woman in herbal history was Hildegard of Bingen. She was a Benedictine nun in the 12th century who wrote a medical text called Causae et Curae. In many places, women, especially "wise-women" and "wise men," were the main herbalists, often using herbs with spells or advice.

Important medical knowledge also came from the Arabian School, Anglo-Saxon leechcraft, and Salerno (a famous medical school in Italy). Avicenna, a great scholar from the Arabian School, wrote The Canon of Medicine. This book described about 760 medicinal plants and introduced ideas like systematic experiments and quarantine.

Sharing Knowledge: Translation of Herbals

Dioscorides’ Materia Medica, a 1334 copy in Arabic, shows medicinal uses of cumin and dill.

During the Middle Ages, people started observing plants more closely. In the 16th and 17th centuries, interest in botany (the study of plants) grew in Europe and spread to America. Philosophers and professors studied plants deeply.

Herbalists became experts at identifying plants, describing their features, and understanding their uses. They created beautiful books called herbals, which had drawings and paintings of plants along with their medicinal uses.

Translating these books was a big effort. Scholars in places like Baghdad and later in Europe worked together to translate and add to them. Monasteries were important centers for this work. Monks learned to translate Greek writings into Latin.

These herbal books were very practical. They listed plant names, how to identify them, which parts were medicinal, and how to prepare them. Dioscorides' De Materia Medica was a key example of such a practical herbal.

Theophrastus wrote many papers describing over 500 plants. He created a way to classify plants based on their shape and structure. He is sometimes called the "grandfather of botany." Another Greek doctor, Pedanius Dioscorides, described over 600 plants and their uses. His illustrations were used for centuries.

Monasteries became places for medical care. Monks shared their knowledge of herbs with each other and with patients. These books were complex and meant for people who already knew a lot about herbs.

Knowledge was also passed down by word of mouth, from one generation to the next. Understanding medieval medicine means looking at many different sources, not just written texts.

The Rise of Modern Medicine: Early Modern Era

The 16th and 17th centuries were a golden age for herbals. Many books became available in English and other languages, not just Latin or Greek. The 18th and 19th centuries saw new plants from the Americas being used, but also the start of modern medicine.

16th Century: New Books and New Plants

The first herbal book published in English was the Grete Herball in 1526. Two very popular English herbals were The Herball or General History of Plants (1597) by John Gerard and The English Physician Enlarged (1653) by Nicholas Culpeper. Gerard's book was a translation of a Belgian herbalist's work, and Culpeper mixed traditional medicine with ideas about astrology.

The Age of Exploration brought many new medicinal plants to Europe from places like the Americas. For example, the Badianus Manuscript was a Mexican herbal written in Nahuatl and Latin in the 16th century.

17th Century: Chemical Changes

In the 17th century, plants slowly started to lose their top spot as the only source of medicine. This began when doctors struggled to treat widespread illnesses. A century later, a doctor named Paracelsus introduced the idea of using strong chemical drugs, like arsenic and mercury.

18th Century: American Herbs

In the Americas, people relied heavily on herbals for medical knowledge because there were few doctors. Books like Dodoens' New Herbal and Buchan's Domestic Medicine were important. Native Americans shared their plant knowledge with colonists, and botanists like John Bartram wrote about these remedies.

19th Century: Understanding Drugs

In the 19th century, the study of pharmacology began. This helped people understand exactly how drugs affect the body. Samuel Thomson was a respected herbalist who influenced many doctors. His followers, called Thomsonians, preferred herbal medicine over the harsh treatments used by other doctors at the time.

Herbalism Today: Modern Era

In the United States, traditional herbalism became known as a type of alternative medicine after 1910. This was when many medical schools that focused on botanical medicine closed. However, in China, Mao Zedong brought back traditional Chinese medicine in 1949. Now, thousands of people are trained in Chinese medicine for use in hospitals.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80% of people worldwide use herbal medicines for some part of their basic health care. In Germany, about 600 to 700 plant-based medicines are available, and many doctors prescribe them.

In the United States, you need a special license to prescribe treatments. There isn't a specific license for herbalists that stops anyone from using or recommending herbs.

Today, many doctors who practice alternative medicine include herbalism. This is because plants offer many different ways to help the body and often have fewer side effects.