THE INVENTION OF THE UMBRELLA

Today all the people have in their houses an umbrella for the rainy days or sometimes for the sunny days, but not everybody know the origin of them.

The English name, umbrella derives to the Latin: umbra, it means shade. It has 2,400 years old.

This invention started in Mesopotamia; they used it for the sunny days like a sunshade, in that region it was normally the elevated temperatures for the latitudes.  

After, a Chinese woman, Lu Mei invented an umbrella that it was made from a material watertight. The legend explains that Lu Mei challenged his brother to build something that it can protect them from the rain. With only one night Lu Mei built a stick with 32 bamboo bars, covered with a fabric. But in China the umbrella existed in 11^th century B.C., before the legend.


In Greece and Egypt the umbrellas used as a sunshade. With the fall of the Roman Empire disappeared until at the end of the 15th century.

In France it became a luxurious fashion accessory back in the 17th century. However, the men built that but they didn't wear it, the umbrellas were a feminine article.


The men introduced the umbrella as a daily accessory in 18^th century thanks to Joseph Hanway.

In 1823, Charles Macintosh presented the first completely waterproof umbrella. And in 1852 Samuel Fox was the manufacturer who invented the umbrella with metal beams.