Academic Reading
The long history of the umbrella
AThe umbrella has a surprisingly long history. Devices for keeping off the sun were used in ancient Egypt, China and India thousands of years ago, but these early parasols were designed for shade rather than rain. It was the Chinese who first waxed and lacquered their paper umbrellas so that they could also keep off water.
BFor centuries in Europe the umbrella was considered an item for women only. That changed in the eighteenth century, when an English traveller named Jonas Hanway began carrying one in public. He endured years of ridicule before the habit finally caught on. Today umbrellas are used everywhere, yet their basic design has changed remarkably little.