Beekeeping is one of the oldest forms
of food production dating back as far back as 13,000 BC.
The history dates back to ancient Egypt where it was
modernized for that time until around the 1860s when the
first system of beekeeping was brought to the United
States by a 19th Century native Pennsylvanian named John
Harbison. According to history beekeeping was practiced
for the harvesting of honey, which is the mainstay of a
beekeepers financial sustenance. Other items that are
harvested from honey are royal jelly and propolis, which
were derived for the use of medicinal purposes. The use
of beehive products has changed little since ancient
times.
Many different kinds of bees were brought over from
places in Europe and even as far as New Zealand. Before
the 80s rolled around beekeeping was in fact a hobby and
not a means to make a living that was primarily done by
farmers or relatives of a farmer who lived in a rural
community where you could set up a bee farm and
maintained it from time honored traditions passed down
through the generations.
In the Asian culture beekeeping was done to produce
honey and beeswax (which was used in candle making and
other products), but when an American scientist named
L.L. Langstroth took beekeeping to the scientific level
in 1851 had innovated the bee space and the removable
hive frame. It wasn't until 1857 that it was discovered
that bees could be manipulated into building a straight
frame hive by providing them with some wax for a
foundation. Bees would proceed to use the wax foundation
to build a honeycomb the octagon shaped holes that was
used to store larvae and later honey once the bees had
developed and hatched. Over the next few years'
different techniques had been developed to continue
modernizing beekeeping, but the most practical invention
wasn't until 1873, which was the smoker, which was a
helpful safety device for many beekeepers. Beekeeping is
an art form, which takes a lot of time and practice to
master because a skilled beekeeper will learn everything
there is to know about beekeeping. Essentially you will
be schooled into this way of life so that everything
about beekeeping is like second nature to you so you
basically eat, sleep, and breathe the art form of
beekeeping.
Beekeepers have a term called Apiculturists because
that's what the Department of Agriculture calls them
when they're categorized for what they do. Beekeepers
are just small offshoots of the agriculture world since
it's pretty much a world of their own with the fact that
what they do began as a hobby had slowly transformed
into a way of life for people to earn a living at.
Beekeepers that are knowledgeable in biology and
entomology can prove to be valuable to the beekeeping
market for those who are trying to improve even innovate
and create their own unique system of beekeeping which
can be passed down to up and coming beekeepers who want
to learn how to do successful beekeeping.
No one really knows when the first
time someone thought about collecting the honey from
hives. We do know that the art of beekeeping has been
around for a long time. Archaeologist have discovered
cave drawings depicting collecting honey. These caves
were found in Africa and Spain's eastern regions.
Archaeologist believe that the cave drawings were
created in 7000BC. Most of these pictures show people
scooping honey out of rocks and trees but a few of them
depict images of humans standing, unstung, in the midst
of a swarms of bees. Scientist believe that these early
cave dwellers somehow learned that smoke had an
interesting affect on bees.
The earliest artificial bee hives were made out of
pottery, clay vases and bowls, and straw baskets
resembled the trees and rock crevices that the bees were
drawn to in nature. Early beekeepers learned how to
capture swarms of bees in these containers. Once trapped
the bees proceeded to turn the containers into a bee
hive.
Evidence that many ancient civilizations, such as the
Myans, raised bees and collected their honey.
Aficionados of Roman history know that bees and honey
played a role in the Roman culture. The Goddess Mellona,
was the protector of the bees.
The Greeks also had a great deal of respect for the
honey bees. On Mt. Olympus, the home of Zeus, they
sipped the nectar provided by the gods (experts believe
that the nectar that the Greeks referred to was honey).
Greek mythology claims that bees were responsible for
building Apollo's second temple. When he wrote his book,
The History of Animals, Aristotle wrote about how bees
were able to locate flowers.
In the period of time between the 1500's and 1851 was an
evolutionary time for beekeeping. The first critical
change in beekeeping happened late in the 1500's. It was
during this time that information was learned about the
life cycle of the honey bee. Once beekeepers understood
the way that bees lived they were better able to take
care of the winged insects.
Adaptations to artificial hives started taking place. As
beekeepers, agricultural enthusiast, and scientists,
yearned to learn more about the life cycle of bees,
beekeepers look for ways to design a hive that would
allow them to easily see inside the hive.
An American, Lorenzo Langstroth, designed the first
mobile bee hive.
By the time the 1850's got here the European honey bee
was introduced to California. After California the honey
bees were introduced to Oregon and Canada.
It is believed that there are over 210,000 beekeepers
currently in the United States. Collectively these
beekeepers keep and maintain over three million active
bee hives.