How to Sit in a
Yucatan Hammock

History of the Hammock — excerpts by Hart Baur

The history of the hammock (or rede or hamaca) is in reality a look at the development and transformation of a practical pre-Columbian bedding source. A surprising fact to many is that the hammock has been around for over 800 years. Its origins are somewhat unclear; as it appears different pre-Columbian civilizations began using the hammock about the same time and thus it is not known which culture was the first to utilize this form of bedding.

The first European acknowledgment of the hammock comes from Columbus, who returned to Spain with a load of hammocks he acquired in what is the present day Bahamas. And soon, with the influx of European conquistadors in search of gold, the hammock became a part of life in the New World. The Portuguese explorer Pero Vaz de Caminha, who in 1500, noted in his journal that in their thatched houses the natives sleep in nets that are attached with cords to wooden beams above. Below always burns a small fire to keep them warm and to repel insects.

Originally, the hammock was a simple, yet functional device that was used for both comfort as well as protection. Most of the earliest known uses of the hammock were by native fishermen, who used the fishing nets for both work and rest. Besides a great place to sleep, these early hammocks also offered an even more functional aspect to dally life, protection. As most of the pre-Columbian dwellings were open air huts with bare flooring, making it very accessible for snakes, scorpions, rodents and other dangerous and potentially fatal vermin to enter. They found that by sleeping in a suspended state, they were not only comfortable, but safe. Poisonous snakes of South and Central America will not climb higher than their body length, so hammocks were a natural and logical way to protect oneself. The hammock also offered an escape from water; dirt or other unsanitary conditions that existed within the early New World.

The earliest known hammocks were woven from the bark of the Hamok tree. The sisal place (similar in looks to an aloe vera plant) later replaced the bark as the material of choice for the hammock because it was more abundant, and its fibers could be softened by rubbing them. These sisal, or rope style, hammocks were somewhat coarse in nature, and not nearly as comfortable as they would later become with the introduction of cotton and other fibers. Because of trade, wars and other methods of international travel, the Indian nations of the Caribbean, Central & South America, the hammock and its many variations soon found its way into daily lives of the various pre-Columbian cultures. The hammocks were soon being made from softer; more pleasant indigenous fabrics and materials which resulted in a vast cross of styles, colors and designs, making each region identifiable by the type of hammock they produce and use.

By 1570, most colonist's beds, from Mexico to Brazil, had become hammocks, and soon became a vital part of the maritime world, from the English Navy to all types of sailors. The hammocks would move in concert with the motion of the ship and keeps in line due to gravity, letting the sailor not be at risk of being tosses around. Then, during the day, the hammocks could be folded up and stored away, giving room for other uses. By the late 1800s, the hammock began appearing on land as the sailors took their hammocks ashore.

The first known hammock manufacturer in the United States was at Pawleys Island, South Carolina in 1889. Captain Joshua John Ward experimented with several types of hammocks, and finally came up with what would be the classic American Style Hammock. He used knotted cotton rope with wooded spreader bars.

In the past 25 years, the hammock industry has exploded, becoming a multi-million dollar industry. There are now over 20 U.S. hammock manufacturing companies. The styles have varied, with the Classic American Rope hammock, the more traditional fabric hammock, to the imported ethnic hammocks from Nicaragua, Mexico, Columbia, Brazil and China.