Tattoo History
The practice of tattooing is very old and has a long history in many tribal cultures around the world. Captain Cook and his crew introduced the word ‘tattoo’ to the English language upon return from their around the world voyage in 1771. The word ‘tattoo’ comes from the Polynesian words ‘tatu’ and ‘tatau’. While tattooing has been practiced around the world, including Europe, for thousands of years, it was 18th century sailors who introduced the practice to modern western society. After discovering ‘tatau’ being practiced among Polynesian tribes throughout the pacific, these explorers became fond of inking designs on their own bodies. When the sailors returned to Europe the practice began to spread and gain popularity.
A huge range of different designs with wide ranging meanings have sprung up around the world over the past few millennia. Historically, tattoos often held deep religious significance, as well as denoting membership to particular tribes, as well as social rank and role within a given tribe. Tattooing has also been used to brand slaves, prisoners, and criminals.
Little has changed in modern times, people still decorate their bodies with tattoos for similar reasons. Even in western society, where it has become fashionable to get tattoos, many people still only ink designs that have a special significance to them.
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An aspect of tattooing that has changed fairly dramatically is the equipment used to puncture the skin and insert the pigment. For example, traditional Polynesian tattooing tools are made from materials such as wood and tortoiseshell, with the needle part often consisting of a comb made from bone. The puncturing of the skin is achieved by tapping the sharp needle tool laden with ink with a mallet or stick. While the principle remains the same, modern electric tattoo machines drive pigment into the skin using alternating electromagnetic coils. The coils raise and lower a needle between 50 and 3000 times per minute to produce the necessary punctures. The vertical movement of the needle is controlled with a foot pedal.
The past few decades has seen something of a social shift in attitudes to tattoos in the west. While tattoos used to be largely the domain of male sailors, bikers, and gang members, nowadays just about everyone is getting inked. This has helped to eradicate much of the negative stigma that was previously attached to tattoo enthusiasts in modern society.
A new direction in tattooing that has arisen recently is the application of permanent cosmetics. Cosmetic tattooing consists of the application of pigment to emphasise the face, lips and eyes.
