The History of Hemp: From Ancient Times to Modern Revival

Hemp has been along for the human ride since, well, pretty much the beginning of recorded history. This history of hemp reads like an epic saga – full of ups and downs, plot twists, and a cast of characters ranging from ancient emperors to modern activists. In this post, we’ll travel through time to see how hemp went from a Neolithic necessity to a forbidden plant, and now to a trendy comeback kid. Buckle up your time machine!

Ancient Beginnings (8000 BCE – 0)

Our journey starts in ancient Asia, where hemp is believed to have been one of the first plants humans ever cultivated for fiber. Archaeologists found hemp fiber imprints in pottery shards in ancient Mesopotamia and China dating back to around 8,000 BCE – yes, that’s eight thousand years before Christ, folks. Imagine those early farmers figuring out that the wild cannabis plants growing nearby could be transformed into rope and fabric. It was a game-changer for early civilizations.

China in particular has a rich hemp heritage. By around 2700 BCE, Chinese records document hemp cultivation. According to legend, the Chinese Emperor Shen Nong (the “Divine Farmer”) taught his people to cultivate hemp for making cloth. Hemp was used for everything from clothing to the first paper; the oldest known paper scraps from China (circa 150 BCE) were made from hemp rags. The word for hemp (“ma”) even appears in ancient Chinese texts as one of the “five grains” that formed the bedrock of agriculture.

Meanwhile, in India, hemp (known as “bhanga”) was used not just for fiber but for its seeds and resin too. Ancient Hindu texts from ~1000 BCE mention cannabis as one of the herbs in sacred rituals and medicine. Hemp seeds were eaten as a food source, and there’s evidence of early use of cannabis resin (which would be the psychoactive part) in spiritual contexts. But for everyday purposes, the fiber was key: durable threads for weaving and ropes for all sorts of uses.

By the time we hit the Classical era (500 BCE – 500 CE), hemp had spread westward. Both ancient Greeks and Romans knew about hemp. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote in 5th century BCE about the Thracians weaving hemp for their clothing, noting it was very similar to linen. The Romans imported hemp from regions like modern-day Romania and used it in their sailing ships – ropes, rigging, and sails (hemp’s strong fiber held up to salt and sea very well). Fun fact: the word “canvas” comes from the Latin cannabis, since many canvas sails were made of hemp.

The Middle Ages and Age of Sail (500 – 1700)

Hemp continued to thrive through medieval times. In Europe, monasteries and peasants alike cultivated hemp. It was such an essential crop that in some places, not growing hemp could land you a fine! Why? Because hemp fiber made the ropes and twines that every farm and village depended on, and the textiles for clothing and sacks. It also made paper for early books and Bibles. Gutenberg’s first Bible printed in the 15th century? Likely on hemp-based paper.

Across the world, many cultures discovered additional uses for hemp. For instance, in the Middle East and Central Asia, hemp (and psychoactive cannabis) were known – hashish emerged around the 12th-13th centuries in the Islamic world. But again, the everyday hero was hemp fiber and seed. Nomadic groups like the Scythians ate hemp seeds for nutrition. And hemp oil from pressed seeds was used in lamps for lighting.

When we sail into the Age of Exploration (1500s – 1700s), hemp becomes as strategic as oil is today. The naval powers of Europe needed massive quantities of hemp for their ships. A single British warship in the 17th century might use 60+ tons of hemp for ropes and sails. Countries like Russia became major hemp producers; in fact, Russian hemp was considered the gold standard, and for a time it was one of Russia’s biggest exports to Western Europe. Both England and France passed laws at various points mandating farmers to grow hemp to support naval stores.

Now let’s talk about hemp in the Americas. Hemp arrived in the New World with European colonists. In Jamestown, Virginia, the very first English colony (est. 1607), the settlers were required by law to grow hemp by 1619. That’s right – growing hemp wasn’t just encouraged, it was compulsory! The colony needed it for rope and textiles. Throughout the 1700s, American farmers (including notable figures like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson) grew hemp on their plantations. Hemp was used for making canvas covers for wagons, clothing, and even the early American flags may have been made of hemp fabric.

There are some interesting snippets from history: In parts of colonial America, hemp was even used as legal tender (money). You could pay your taxes in hemp fiber in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and other colonies at certain times. Benjamin Franklin owned a paper mill that processed hemp. And it’s often stated that the first drafts of the U.S. Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper (though parchment was used for the final copy). Hemp was truly woven into the fabric of daily life.

From Hero to Outlaw (1800s – 1930s)

Hemp production continued into the 19th century, though it saw ups and downs. Steamships eventually lessened the Navy’s dependence on sails, and cotton rose in prominence for textiles after the invention of the cotton gin. But hemp still had its niches – for example, pioneers used hemp canvas to cover their Conestoga wagons heading west.

The real turning point for hemp came in the early 20th century, with a confluence of factors that turned hemp from an agricultural staple into a forbidden crop. The main culprit was the broader criminalization of cannabis. Cannabis as a drug (often called “marijuana” from Mexican Spanish slang) became the target of a moral panic and xenophobic sentiment in the U.S. by the 1930s. Unfortunately, hemp got swept up in this fear.

In 1937, the U.S. government passed the Marihuana Tax Act, which imposed heavy taxes and regulations on all cannabis, including hemp. Technically, the Act did not outright ban hemp, but it required growers to obtain expensive tax stamps and made the process so cumbersome that almost no one could legally grow it. In principle, the law aimed to stop recreational marijuana use; in practice, it killed the hemp industry. Most hemp farming and processing in the U.S. collapsed after 1937. To add to hemp’s woes, synthetic materials like nylon were emerging (DuPont developed nylon in the 1930s, and some conspiracy theorists suggest industrial lobbyists wanted to eliminate hemp as competition – there’s debate about that, but it makes for an intriguing subplot).

One ironic blip: during World War II, the same U.S. government that banned hemp actually needed it again. Manila hemp (from abaca plant) used for rope was cut off by the war in the Pacific, so the government temporarily encouraged American farmers to grow hemp in a program called “Hemp for Victory.” They even made a propaganda film in 1942 extolling hemp’s virtues for the war effort, and tens of thousands of acres were planted. But after WWII, that support vanished and hemp returned to being an illegal crop under narcotics laws.

Meanwhile globally, other countries had mixed approaches. The Soviet Union kept hemp cultivation alive (the USSR was actually the world’s largest hemp producer mid-20th century). Many Asian and African countries where cannabis grew traditionally saw reduced hemp farming due to colonial influence or later prohibition aligned with international drug treaties.

The Modern Revival (1990s – Present)

For decades, hemp sat in the penalty box, especially in the United States, often guilty by association with marijuana. But attitudes started to change towards the end of the 20th century. Environmental and economic interests began to push for hemp’s return. Hemp is a renewable resource that grows fast and has countless uses – it started to look silly to keep it banned. Plus, as the movement to legalize medical and recreational marijuana gained ground, distinguishing hemp (the sober sister) became more feasible.

Europe started bringing hemp back in the 1990s. Countries like the UK, Germany, and France re-legalized industrial hemp cultivation with strict THC limits (typically 0.2% or 0.3% THC allowed). Canada legalized hemp farming in 1998, setting a THC limit of 0.3% (later Canada even allowed up to 1% THC in hemp, reflecting a very lenient stance). Farmers were once again growing hemp for seed oil, food, and fiber.

In the U.S., the change was slower. Pioneering states like Colorado and Vermont passed laws in the 2010s to allow experimental hemp farming. The real tipping point was the 2018 Farm Bill, which federally legalized industrial hemp (defined as cannabis with ≤0.3% THC) in the United States. This removed hemp from the Controlled Substances Act. Practically overnight, hemp went from outlawed to a booming new industry. Farmers large and small leapt into hemp cultivation – initially spurred by the CBD craze (since hemp was a legal source of CBD). By 2019, you could find hemp growing in fields that had been tobacco or corn just a year before.

Today, hemp is having its renaissance. The modern hemp industry spans health foods (like hemp protein powder and hemp milk), wellness supplements (CBD oils everywhere you look), sustainable textiles (hemp blends in t-shirts and denim), biodegradable plastics, and even construction (hempcrete homes). It feels like each year someone finds a new way to use hemp – reinforcing why it was such a treasured crop historically.

The journey of hemp, from ancient fiber to prohibited plant and back to ecological darling, is a fascinating reflection of changing times. Hemp has proven to be resilient – not just as a plant (it literally can grow like a “weed” in many environments), but as an idea. For thousands of years, humans relied on hemp, then we oddly tried to erase it from memory, and now we’re welcoming it back. Knowing this history gives us a greater appreciation for hemp’s potential and a healthy dose of respect for what it has endured.

As we continue into the 21st century, the story of hemp is still being written. Will hemp help combat climate change with its carbon-absorbing fields? Will it become a staple crop once more, lining our closets, pantries, and even building our homes? History tends to repeat itself, and in hemp’s case, that might not be such a bad thing. After all, it’s a plant that has been a friend to humanity from antiquity to today – and its best chapters may still lie ahead.