Cultivated from the plant, Cannabis genus, Hemp is a soft and durable fiber. It dates back to the Neolithic Age in China where researchers discovered hemp fiber traces on the pottery belonging to the Yangshao culture in the 5th century BC. Later, hemp was used by Chinese to construct ropes, clothes, shoes and the primitive form of paper.
The conventional Greek historian Herodotus identified that the locals of Scythia would burn hemp-seeds and then inhales its smoke, both for customary and congenial purposes.
During the 2nd century, the Jews residing in Palestine were acquainted with the cultivation of hemp. Moreover, in the feudal Italy and Germany, cooking included hemp where people included hemp in pies, soups and tortes.
The Spanish took hemp to the Western Hemisphere and introduced the plant in Chile in about 1545. By 1613, Samuell Argal informed that the plant that was being grown on the shores of the higher part of Potomac was better than that grown in England. According to the Act passed by the first Virginia House of Burgesses, all planters had to sow “both the Indian and the English” hemp on their land.
The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 taxed anyone who commercially dealt in hemp, marijuana and/or cannabis. However, the law was eradicated after the repeal in 1970.
During the World War II, hemp was being comprehensively consumed by the Americans. Many of the army items were being made by it, including canvases, ropes, and uniforms. Majority of this crop was being nurtured in the Midwest and the state of Kentucky.