History of Perfume & Fragrance

History of Perfume & Fragrance


Perfume is one of those products which could influence our emotions. People`s sense of smell influences behavior and sets different moods. It could even talk about memories of the past. As a marketing tool, perfume is also present in our everyday lives and it are available in plenty of consumer products. Aside from the fact that perfume is indeed popular, maybe you have wandered how it happened what it really is today? What`s the annals of perfume?

Some anthropologists say that perfume was used by primitive man through 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 generate original ointments.

Three thousand years ago in ancient Egypt, historians think that perfume was first used in rituals, as part of their religious ceremonies, creating a pleasant smell. These scents originated from gums, resin trees, oil and from a variety of plants producing a perfume unguent that was rubbed into the skin. More than 100 years later, women of Egypt were utilizing perfume because of their cosmetic qualities. It is believed that Egytptian queen Cleopatra had her very own exclusive balms and scents used as cosmetics and aphrodisiac, which helped her to conquer Julius Caesar and later Mark Anthony. Also out of this same era, it really is believed that perfume was used in Mesopotamia for ritual ceremonies. And farther east, in China, aromatic herbs were useful for medicine purposes.

Later on as  Browse this site  expanded, perfume became extremely popular and demand for scent products increased trade among different civilizations. Africa and India began 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 continued, so when it continued to swell, fragrance perfume was eventually introduced through time to several civilizations such as Hindus, Israelites, Carthaginians, Arabs, Greeks, Romans and lastly reintroduced more than 100 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 the way the " new world " of America surely got to be discovered.

As Italian perfume influence swept over neighboring countries, France began expanding the application of perfume by first offering perfumed gloves, that have been most often perfumed with neroli or animal scents such as for example ambergris and civet. From then on, French perfume has become famous worldwide and today sets the typical for excellence.

Also France played a significant role in reestablishing the use of perfume for therapeutic purposes in the western world. It's 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 through the trade of aromatic scents. In addition, it played a major deal, since its trade meant economical power for the nations. 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 alone sets perfume in class by itself. Perhaps that`s what makes it so desirable by all of us.