The initial phase or the prelude of historical civilization was a hunting and gathering society. People were nomadic, and the traumatic cataclysm etched into the genetic memory of man enables them to take up a wandering lifestyle for many centuries. They move all over the planet, and along with them, their own tents which they can assemble each time the place suits them (at the moment). The first ever known tents in the history were made of reed and mud in the Mediterranean region and another one made of Mastodon bones and hides, the latter being the very concept surrounding the long houses of the Yagahl People in the motion picture 10,000 BC. The earliest tent ruins scientifically accounted was one from Russia, carbon-dated 40,000 BC therefore 42,011 years old.
When mankind created grand civilizations through the discovery of life-sustaining rivers such as the Nile, Huang He, Euphrates and the Ganges; these permanent settlements did not put a stop to the construction of tents as a refuge. These rivers and the people discovering them are only among the fewest of all human beings and places on earth. Some who had no good access to fresh water that ensured sustainable horticulture still continue to become nomadic. The first named human being to have lived on a tent was named Jabal, the brother of the ancient Biblical ruler of Euphrates named King Nimrod. King Nimrod created a civilization and defied God by creating the biggest structure in the planet, for which he was punished. Jabal, however, decided to live a simple life around the desert and thus he was blessed with countless flock. Jabal is considered to be the grandfather of Hebrew and Bedouin/Arab lifestyle.
Even when almost all human beings already have the notion of permanent settlement, tents are still as much important as an immovable domicile. One can always take away a man from his journey, but one could never take away journeying from man. Humanity is blessed with two feet and these feet are often restless. Oftentimes mankind would trek to someplace else and find it already inhabited by others. This very occurrence is unsurprisingly the causes for wars. Warriors from other kingdoms bring tents with them, for they are the type who would say, “We are not going anywhere until our enemies run or perish.” Invasions are the biggest camping projects of civilized settlements during the Antiquities.
One could not deign to forget that the greatest warrior and conqueror in the history, Genghis Khan, once lived in a yurt (Mongolian and Eastern European tent) no bigger than a middle class family’s master’s bedroom. After a lifetime, he carved up an empire within over 60% of the entire planet’s territory. Even until the day he died, old habits did not face with him and many of his overzealous people continue to adapt to the Mongolian settlement in yurts while his direct descendants live in the grand palaces of Persia, China and India.
Arabic Bedouins and African Tuareg still continue to live in tents in the modern times just the way these Islamic people always did way back from the time of Ishmael, whose culture also dates way back from the desert people’s pioneer, Jabal. The World War I English warrior, Lawrence of Arabia, preferred the rudimentary Bedouin tents to those standard British desert supply camps in order to single-handedly elude and punish the Ottomans and Germans who could not track them down all over the Arabian Desert.
Tents have never outlived their usefulness even throughout history. In these times of peace, tents remind people how to be in harmony with nature and embrace the simplicity of basic lifestyle. Camping in forests and other places untouched by King Nimrod’s legacy are almost always every man’s idea of a wonderful vacation.
