I need to know about history of bushcraft
- Thread starter milius2
- Start date
Thousands of years ago before we started writing and documenting stuff. It was called life then though.
I can't give a date as I have no idea.I think though that it all began in earnest in the latter part of the twentieth century.
People worldwide have become more and more urbanized.Every year the rural populations seem to shrink(in this part of the world anyway) as people move to the cities in search of employment.
Once people are jammed together like livestock,surrounded by concrete,asphalt and glass,overwhelmed by having no privacy with the deafening noise of civilization all around and march off to their prison cell everyday to work,they revert back to their instincts and crave to be out in the wild places,doing what mankind was meant to do.
Whew,that was a mouthful!!I do believe that is a large part of the current bushcraft attraction.I really,truly believe that we as human beings were meant to live in a more natural environment.
Anyway,I just had to give my little speech.
This is all my opinion only-I have no facts to back up my theory.
People worldwide have become more and more urbanized.Every year the rural populations seem to shrink(in this part of the world anyway) as people move to the cities in search of employment.
Once people are jammed together like livestock,surrounded by concrete,asphalt and glass,overwhelmed by having no privacy with the deafening noise of civilization all around and march off to their prison cell everyday to work,they revert back to their instincts and crave to be out in the wild places,doing what mankind was meant to do.
Whew,that was a mouthful!!I do believe that is a large part of the current bushcraft attraction.I really,truly believe that we as human beings were meant to live in a more natural environment.
Anyway,I just had to give my little speech.
This is all my opinion only-I have no facts to back up my theory.
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You need to refine your question a little.
Do you mean 'bushcraft the pasttime' or 'bushcraft the set of skills'?
If the latter then bushcraft has been around as long as there have been human beings. Modern technologies mean some skills have been lost or are no longer needed (and new ones acquired!). Which has sort of given rise to 'bushcraft the pasttime' - that is, people trying to keep skills alive (for whatever reason - hobby, interest in old skills, escapism etc).
So you have to decide what you mean by 'bushcraft' first, before you can start tracing its history.
Do you mean 'bushcraft the pasttime' or 'bushcraft the set of skills'?
If the latter then bushcraft has been around as long as there have been human beings. Modern technologies mean some skills have been lost or are no longer needed (and new ones acquired!). Which has sort of given rise to 'bushcraft the pasttime' - that is, people trying to keep skills alive (for whatever reason - hobby, interest in old skills, escapism etc).
So you have to decide what you mean by 'bushcraft' first, before you can start tracing its history.
robin wood
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
This is a good answer. I don't know if anyone in the UK called it bushcraft before RM but certainly the huge increase in public interest and knowledge of "bushcraft" as a thing is down to him. There have always been people playing with it as a hobby though and writing about it even if they didn't call it bushcraft, normally it is just a part of something bigger rather than a thing in it's own right. I think this idea of "doing bushcraft" is very new. I still find the idea of "going bushcrafting" a bit odd to me it is something you do along the way whilst out doing other stuff. I fanticised as a child after reading "my side of the mountain" and went to learn falconry from Philip Glasier. I read and eat my way through Richard Maybe's food for free which itself was largely based on wartime publications. All the way back writers include bits of bushcraft from kids books like swallows and amazons to more serious stuff like Dorothy Hartley's superb writings.
Then there are the old countryman's skills, from the gamekeeper and poacher to the farmer, hedgelayer or woodsman. All keep a certain portion of old skills and certainly knowledge of the natural world alive (the ones that don't live in a tractor cab).
its obvious, JD,s answer is the closest you'll get to the thruth,
we are simply carrying the torch if you like,...clinging onto the skills to use in a recreational way,
those skils which were never questioned as anything other than essential everyday tasks.
cheers
Stu
we are simply carrying the torch if you like,...clinging onto the skills to use in a recreational way,
those skils which were never questioned as anything other than essential everyday tasks.
cheers
Stu
Not sure about Bushcraft, but you could look at people like Thoreau who in 1849 referred to a "sanctuary from the turmoil, the anxieties, and the hollowness of society".
By the 1880s in the US there was a real push of people going out into the wilds in tents and using many 'bushcraft skills' these were often people from cities for whom the "real enjoyment of camping and tramping in the woods lies in a return to primitive conditions of lodging, dress and food, in as total escape as may be from the requirements of civilisation. It is wonderful to see how easily the restrictions of society fall off"
By the 1880s in the US there was a real push of people going out into the wilds in tents and using many 'bushcraft skills' these were often people from cities for whom the "real enjoyment of camping and tramping in the woods lies in a return to primitive conditions of lodging, dress and food, in as total escape as may be from the requirements of civilisation. It is wonderful to see how easily the restrictions of society fall off"
I think bushcraft has always been around as long as there has been wilderness, either as a way of life or practiced by those looking to escape "civilization." There is no clear starting point as it goes back to beginnings. Over the centuries it has been relied upon for existence, exploration, recreation, and inspiration. It has a very long history, rich and varied, with many different names and ways of practice. The history of bushcraft is woven into the fabric of human existence and try as it might, modernity has yet to obliterate it from our consciousness.
ok, lets get it clear. I'm talking about people doing/learning bushcraft as preference OR choise, not neccesity, when we speek about farmers or hunter-gatherers, woodsman, bushcraft makes no sence because it's called LIFE. I'm talking about present times: schools, meetings, forums...
And thanks all for answers above
And thanks all for answers above
Bushcraft is just a combination of skills used by people over the years to help them live, travel and survive. The basic outdoor skills of shelter building, fire making, cooking are nothing more than camping the old fashioned way, boy scouts get or used to get badges for tree I.D. and wild flowers, fire making and wore similar shirts to those favoured by the modern bushcrafter etc.
Bushcraft is nothing special, its not a religion, its about getting out and enjoying the outdoors in a manner you enjoy. You don't need to wear the bushcraft cloths or sleep in a hammock to get out and enjoy yourself but if you want to thats fine. This is only a hobby, a bit of fun that has now adopted the label of 'Bushcraft'. You can download lots of books which show the lives and techniques of the old mountain men, the boy scouts, these would be good starting points for you if you need a history.
Just go and enjoy your camping, have fun and enjoy life while you are young and can do that, before you know it age, illness or commitments will stop you.
Bushcraft is nothing special, its not a religion, its about getting out and enjoying the outdoors in a manner you enjoy. You don't need to wear the bushcraft cloths or sleep in a hammock to get out and enjoy yourself but if you want to thats fine. This is only a hobby, a bit of fun that has now adopted the label of 'Bushcraft'. You can download lots of books which show the lives and techniques of the old mountain men, the boy scouts, these would be good starting points for you if you need a history.
Just go and enjoy your camping, have fun and enjoy life while you are young and can do that, before you know it age, illness or commitments will stop you.
It's difficult to define when or where it really started as a pastime in Britain, as suggested the 1908 edition of "Scouting for Boys" is a good contender, but it could also be argued that it actually dates back to the Romantic Movement of the second half of the 18th century which was a reaction to the Industrial Revolution.
I have books published in the 1930s about "Tramp Camping" and "Romany Camping" that contain material not much different from the contents of books by later authors, but the first time that I saw the term "Bushcraft" was with the publication of a book by Richard Graves. My copy dates to about 1975 I think. Mors Kochanski used the term again when he published his book "Northern Bushcraft".
The seventies and eighties saw the growth of "Survivalism", partially as a reaction to the times but also largely inspired by books and Hollywood movies like "First Blood".
Although some of the emphasis was different, I think it is fair to say that the survivalist movement provided fertile ground for a series of short television spots presented by Raymond Mears. which would finally cement the term "Bushcraft" in the vocabulary of a wide range of people practising skill sets like those that can be found on this forum.
I have books published in the 1930s about "Tramp Camping" and "Romany Camping" that contain material not much different from the contents of books by later authors, but the first time that I saw the term "Bushcraft" was with the publication of a book by Richard Graves. My copy dates to about 1975 I think. Mors Kochanski used the term again when he published his book "Northern Bushcraft".
The seventies and eighties saw the growth of "Survivalism", partially as a reaction to the times but also largely inspired by books and Hollywood movies like "First Blood".
Although some of the emphasis was different, I think it is fair to say that the survivalist movement provided fertile ground for a series of short television spots presented by Raymond Mears. which would finally cement the term "Bushcraft" in the vocabulary of a wide range of people practising skill sets like those that can be found on this forum.
Thanks Wayland, that was the answer I was looking for! I will have an anwer when I'm asked the next time. You know people around me are becoming ever more interested in things I do, but in Lithuania or lithuanian language it's very hard to explain and translate the term itself. Closest I got was something like "science of the woods" but then I was suggested to call it "extreme camping". Damn, that is a baaaad traslations, I hope that being able to tell little about history will help to explain it a bit more correct.
