Hemp: its history in Lithuania and the world

In this article, we will briefly review the importance of fibrous hemp in the historical context, in Lithuania and in the world.

Note: This and other articles on Hemp's blog are for informational purposes only. According to the directive of the European Commission, cannabidiol is classified as a 'new food', therefore CBD products should not be used as a food supplement in Lithuania.

Old Times and Fiber Hemp

According to historians, fibrous hemp is one of the oldest cultivated plants in Lithuania (Cultural plants are plants that a person grows specifically to obtain a certain benefits). In the settlements of the ancient Narva culture (3500-3000 B.C.Aveme) seeds of the hemp plant and well-preserved hemp rope twisted from hemp fibers were found. These plants were widely cultivated and used for at least 5,500 years before it was banned at the beginning of the Soviet regime.

Historical and biological research conducted by scientists showed that the Baltic region was probably one of the first in the world where fibrous hemp was specially cultivated and was widely used by people of that time seeking to improve or relieve themselves daily life (household, work tools, clothes and/or their parts, etc.)i.e) It should be noted that the latest data provide new and very valuable information, which allows us to assume that fibrous hemp was used in Lithuania even before the arrival of Indo-European cultures from the southwest.

Plenty with linen (lat. Linum) associated customs and processing processes (e.g. soaking in water, threshing with sock mills and others) may have survived from ancient times when the main culture for food and fiber production was related to hemp. According to historians, it is important to mention the double semantics existing in Lithuanian historical culture between fiber hemp and linen, which shows a clear trace of hemp fabric production in linen textile traditions and historical sources. A complex with a history of thousands of years, various archaic fibrous plants and the hemp that replaced them in the Neolithic period, when flax was integrated in the Middle Ages, which was processed using the tools previously used to process fibrous hemp.

Fiber hemp during the LDK period

Fibered hemp and the culture of its use had no less importance during the period of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. There are various facts that undoubtedly confirm the spread of hemp culture, for example XVII-XVIII centuries. products made from them were widespread in the everyday household of that time. Housewives used hemp seed oil, and bedding and clothing were made from linen and hemp fiber. Linen, cotton, woolen and silk rags were mainly used for paper production, and in the 18th century also the fiber hemp and its fiber. It is also important to mention the economic importance of hemp culture in this period. The greatest importance for trade in the 17th century. p. II. - 18th century had Riga ship port. Hemp fiber and other parts of hemp (seeds, stems, leaves), flax and its seeds, from which oil was pressed, as well as various wooden products for shipping and not only (stems, rasts, wood for shuls, etc.) were transported through it.i.e), ash, coal, potash, furs.
In 1786-1791, Karaliaučius became the most important and main grain port of the western and central LDK. Furs, hemp fiber and their parts, grain, linseed, oil, ash, coal, potash, tallow, groats, tallow were transported here.

Hemp in today's Lithuania

Today's hemp cultivation culture in Lithuania confirms the saying: everything that is new is a long forgotten old thing. The area of ​​fiber hemp crops is constantly expanding, and more and more people are discovering the benefits of this unique plant and its products - organic oil, soap, cosmetics, nutritional supplements, tea, building materials, fuel and much more. With the help of modern technologies, fiber hemp can now be produced almost 50 thousand tons. different products, including CBD oil.

Fiber hemp in the world

In order to correctly assess the importance of fiber hemp in a global context, we need to look at the use of this plant at different stages of human history.

Fiber hemp 8000 m. Aveme Earliest use of hemp fiber string in pottery discovered has been found at an ancient village site over 10,000 years old in what is now Taiwan. Since hemp was found to be used and cultivated during this period, it is believed to be one of the first and oldest known cultivated plants in human history.

6000 - 4000 BC Aveme Fibrous hemp, hemp seeds and hemp oil are used in food production, and the fiber of the plant is used in clothing, in what is now China.

2737 Aveme Manuscripts of the Chinese Emperor Shenong mention the use of fibrous hemp and its parts in medicine.

2000 Aveme Bhang (dried hemp leaves, seeds and stems) is mentioned in the Hindu sacred text Atharvaveda as the "Holy Herb", one of the five sacred plants of India. It is used in medicine and ritual as an offering to Shiva (one of the trinity of gods).

800 - 200 BC. Aveme production and trade of hemp products is spreading rapidly in Asian countries, North America and Europe. The Scythians, a powerful Indo-European nation of that time, brought hemp to central Europe, the territory of today's Germany. 200 Ave.me Greek annals contain the first records of the medicinal properties of hemp for the relief of various pains, inflammations and edema.

200 years Aveme - 1000 years The appearance of the first paper, which was made from hemp, dates back to the early Western Han Dynasty (around 200 BC). Aveme) Recycled hemp clothing, rags and fishing nets were used as raw material for paper production. By the sixth century AD, the papermaking process had spread to present-day Korea, where hemp had been used for thousands of years before, and Japan, where hemp had been used 10,000 years earlier. In the 1000s, hemp was already used for rope making in southern Russia, southern Greece, western Spain and the British Isles.

Fiber hemp 1100-1500. Historical sources mention that when Portuguese explorers arrived in South Africa, they learned that the local tribes had been using hemp for more than 500 years.
1492 Christopher Columbus and his crew set out on an expedition to discover the new route to Asia, and the sails of all three ships, the Pinta, the Nina and the Santa Maria, were made of extremely strong hemp fibers that could withstand the relentless winds of the Atlantic Ocean. Although Christopher Columbus didn't realize it himself, his voyage forever connected the Old and New Worlds, and hemp played a crucial role in the discovery of the Americas.

We invite you to read more articles related to hemp and its benefits.