Time Travel: The History of Diving

This week in our Time Travel series, we’re descending through the history of diving.

The earliest forms of free diving emerged in the Mediterranean and were implemented for commercial purposes. Over time diving skills were transposed to salvaging goods from wrecked ships and scouting barricades in naval wars.

The modern diving bell’s 16th century debut started a movement towards developing technology that could keep divers safer and underwater for longer periods of time. Fully enclosed diving suits were designed in the 18th century, and successful diving helmets were developed in the early 19th century. The following century brought both open and closed-circuit scuba systems.

Recreational scuba diving swelled in the 1940s and 1950s with the invention of the Aqua Lung and wetsuit. In 1960, the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI Worldwide) formed, providing standards for diving programs and instructors and widely increasing the public’s interest in recreational diving. Today, there are millions of recreational divers worldwide, and dive tourism is steadily rising.

Flip through the gallery above to see how diving has progressed over thousands of years.

Sarra Sedghi is Paste Travel’s News Editor.

1 of 9 Commercial diving started in the Mediterranean, possibly Greece, and was popular among islands with tradable underwater goods like sponges and red coral. Many commercial divers implemented small weights to speed their descent and traveled without breathing apparatti. Photo: MyLoupe/UIG/Getty

2 of 9 Diving was also implemented to salvaging material from sunken ships and disassembling blockades. During the Peloponnesian War, military divers relayed messages and supplies across barricades and stealthily damaged enemy ships. Photo: Reinhard Dirscherl/Getty

3 of 9 The Mediterranean's burgeoning sea trade system led to many shipwrecks, and divers were hired to salvage sunken goods. Commercial free-diving helped sustain the economies of Gulf nations in the Middle East. Photo: Reinhard Dirscherl/Getty

4 of 9 The diving bell, a cable-suspended chamber that lowers divers underwater while trapping air under its dome, dates to the 4th century BCE. Starting in the 16th century, the diving bell underwent a series of improvements, making salvage diving more efficient. Image: Hulton Archive/Getty

5 of 9 The first fully enclosed diving suits were designed in the early 18th century, and Charles and John Deane crafted the first successful diving helmets in the 1820s. The closed-circuit scuba ("self-contained underwater breathing apparatus") system debuted in 1878, and the first open-circuit scuba system was developed in 1925. Image: UniversalImagesGroup /Getty

6 of 9 Physiologist Paul Bert closely studied the effects of decompression sickness, otherwise known as the bends, and published them in 1878's "La Pression barometrique." In 1907, John Scott Haldane designed the decompression chamber, which is used to combat oxygen toxicity and decompression sickness in divers. Photo: Bettmann/Getty

7 of 9 The Aqua Lung, the first globally popular open-circuit scuba equipment, was invented in 1943 by Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Émile Gagnan. Coupled with Hugh Bradner's 1952 creation of the wetsuit, the Aqua Lung inspired a new wave of recreational divers. Bettmann/Getty

8 of 9 Although recreational scuba diving was quickly becoming popular, most instructors were amateurs. In 1960, the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI Worldwide), which offers recreational dive certification and instruction, was founded. Photo: Dave Mathias/Getty

9 of 9 Today, there millions of active scuba divers and snorkelers worldwide. Dive tourism is gaining momentum among coastal destinations, especially in developing nations. Photo: Reinhard Dirscherl/Getty