The early history of ice
skating is a bit debatable, but some believe ice skating had its
beginnings in Scandinavia sometime between 3000 and 1000 B.C.. I
realize that 2000 years is a significant time gap between theories,
but depending on whom you read, these are the two timeframes most
often given. The first recorded mention of ice skating is found in a
biography of Thomas Becket (London born monk) written by his former
clerk William Fitzstephen around 1180.
It is believed that
early ice skaters in the Northern European countries used ice
skating as transportation rather than for recreation, exercise or as
a competitive sport. Archaeological
evidence supports this
theory with findings of ice skates in Scandinavia, Germany, the
Netherlands and other northern European countries. By the 1600s, the
Dutch commonly used ice skating as means of transportation between
villages.
Ice skating was
introduced in England sometime in the 17th century,
possibly by Dutch sailors. The English did not have the same need or
opportunity to use ice skating for travel, so they mostly ice skated
on frozen ponds. This led the English to slightly modify the blade
to allow for quick turns and circles. This modification likely
resulted from the pond environment (small round
skating area), and
led to something we now know as figure skating (see History of
Figure
Skating). European colonists or the English military
personnel likely introduced ice skating to America and Canada in the
mid 1700s.
The First Ice Skates
Historians are not in
full agreement when it comes to when the first ice skates were
invented. Again, most believe that the first pair of ice skates date
back sometime between 3000 and 1000 B.C., and were invented by the
Scandinavians. Regardless of the exact time ice skates
were
invented, most everyone agrees that they were made from animal bones
taken from horses, cattle, elk, oxen and other animals. Skaters tied
these bones to the bottom of a pair of boots or shoes and glided
across iced over lakes and ponds.
Many historians believe
that sometime in the 14th Century, the Dutch started
using wooden platform skates with flatiron bottom runners. These ice
skates were said to have been attached to the skater's shoes or
boots with leather straps or clamps. Around 1500, it is believed
that the Dutch added a narrow metal, double edged blade which
greatly aided the skater’s ability to glide across the ice. The
figure skate itself was dramatically improved in 1848 when E.W.
Bushnell of Philadelphia developed an all-steel skate, replacing the
wooden footplate. Mr. Bushnell’s skates were instrumental in
increasing the popularity of ice skating. Following this, the next
significant changes to the ice skates came sometime after 1900. The
main developments in the figure skate were the addition of the toe
pick, and the closed-toe blade of one-piece steel, which made the
skate lighter and stronger than any previous skate.
