The History of Tattoos: Discover How this Artform Began and Inspired Sailors and Kings

We reveal the history behind an artform practiced for over 5,000 years

Teenage love, the passion of your life, deep faith and a memory you don’t want to forget. All this and more are great tattoo material. From kings to sailors, from Japan to Samoa, via Europe and Jerusalem, tattoos were never bound by social class or geography.

Tattoo designs have been found in almost every part of the world. And although people claim they’re a fashion trend, we have been tattooing ourselves for over 5,000 years.

Want to discover the history of tattoos? Then don’t miss this video!

We’ve been tattooing ourselves for over 5,000 years

Tattoos have existed since the beginning of our history. We know this because of the mummified remains found on every one of the 5 continents. Ötzi the Iceman, for example. He’s the oldest tattooed man discovered to date. He lived over 5,300 years ago and his body is covered with a line of 61 tattoos.

Historians believe they may have served some kind of therapeutic, symbolic or religious purpose.

Maori tattoos

Although tattoos have been found all over the place, their significance changes according to their place of origen. In Maori culture, the lines and symbols of Tā moko tattoos reflect a person’s ancestry and personal history. Every line has its own meaning and tattoos are added to as the person grows up and gains experience.

These designs are also a symbol of hierarchy and social prestige.

Persecuted and celebrated in Japan

In Japan, for centuries, tattoos were a form of punishment, until decorative tattoos flourished in the mid-18th century. Criminals were tattooed with different marks indicating their crimes, as a reminder of guilt inked into their own skin.

It was also a way of stigmatizing delinquents, as it was immediately obvious to everyone that they had committed a crime.

But decorative tattoos flourished in the mid-18th century. Popular motifs included scenes from Japanese mythology, flowers and animals. Then in 1872, the Meiji government banned tattoos (for almost 100 years) because it wanted to give Westerners a more civilized impression.

However, Western clients actually went underground to get tattooed, because they were fascinated by the beauty of traditional Japanese designs.

A Holy Land souvenir

At other moments in history, getting a tattoo was literally a matter of faith. Pilgrims to the Holy Land often marked their skin with a reminder of their journey.

These designs of crosses and other Christian symbols have survived and you can still obtain a pilgrim’s tattoo at some of the parlors in Jerusalem.

Western tattoos: the Cook Myth

We know several ancient communities used tattoos as a form of expression. There’s a widespread belief that the art of tattooing spread throughout the West thanks to British sailors. However this simply isn’t true. It’s known as the Cook Myth. Historian and tattoo expert Matt Lodder explains that Europeans didn’t suddenly start getting tattooed after the British and French navy’s Pacific voyages.

It’s just that the records started to improve, and many of the sources used by researchers, (for example army, prison or institutional registries,) began to include descriptions of people’s tattoos. “European Tattooing didn’t change radically after the Pacific voyages. People didn’t start getting Maori, Samoan or New Zealand motifs tattooed on their skin,” Lodder explains.

Another common belief is that only sailors, prisoners, soldiers or the working classes had tattoos. This is another falsehood: members of the upper classes had tattoos too. Kings like George V of England and Tsar Nicolas II of Russia got tattoos on their trips to Japan.

And what kind of tattoos did they like? The designs they chose were often similar to those liked by everyone else: oriental motifs, swallows, anchors, travel memories, flowers, animals or names. But their tattoos were harder to spot as nobles and members of the upper class tended to hide their bodies. It was much easier to spot a sailor’s than a banker’s tattoo, because the banker’s clothing made it much easier to hide their chosen designs.

A revolutionary invention

At the turn of the 19th century, a new invention changed tattooing forever. Electric machines allowed tattoo artists to increase their productivity, and in Europe and the US, the artform became and is now still largely electrical.

This created a booming market, which led to the opening of dozens of studios and the production of new colored inks.

These days, tattoos are readily available in a range of recognizable styles. Old School is a solid, clean and simple style with black outlines and a color scheme based on black, red, yellow or green.

Blackwork only uses black ink and relies on sharp contrasts, avoiding shadows and grays. Blackwork is often accompanied by dotwork, which uses pointillism.

You’ll also find watercolor or geometric tattoos with straight lines and polygons.

And all these options always boil down to the same question: what would you tattoo?

Some people view their body as a giant canvas. Others see it as a blank page on which they need to mark important names or dates. It doesn’t really matter what kind of tattoo you want or the reason you want one, they’re all indelible works of art on your skin, designed to last for ever.

What’s your favorite tattoo design? Let us know in the comments. And if you want to learn more, don’t miss all these Domestika tattoo design courses.

You may also like:

- Diana Félix, Tattoo Artist on Domestika Diary
- Basic Tattooing Materials for Putting Together Your First Kit
- Drawing Tutorial: Graphic Techniques for Designing Tattoos from Scratch
- Custom Tattoo Design with Procreate, a course by Diana Félix
- Blackwork Tattoo Design, a course by Sophie Mo