Herbal medicine has been used since time immemorial. We have some indication through archaeological digs that people used herbal medicines as far back as 5000 years ago during the Stone Age. Written records go back perhaps 2000 years, both in Asia and in Europe. The earliest significant Western document on medicine is from ancient Egypt. This work is called the Ebers Papyrus which contained many prescriptions based on herbal medicines, including herbs we still used today such as ginger and garlic. From the Egyptians the knowledge of herbal medicine was passed on to the Greeks and the Romans, about 2000 years ago.

The knowledge of medicine subsequently flowered in Persia (now called Iran) in the Middle East, then into southern Europe to the first schools of medicine in Italy at Salerno and Padua in the 15th and 16th centuries. The late 1400s saw the invention of the printing press and the first two books to be printed with this new invention were the Bible and the family herbal. In those days, one could not go down to the corner drug store and pick up an aspirin for a headache. All medicine came directly from nature. The first English herbal was printed in the early 1500s, and this book was followed by a number of so-called great herbals, huge tomes, which included everything that was currently known about the uses and practice of herbal medicine. Some of the major herbals were written by physicians of the time, such as John Gerard, John Parkinson, and William Turner.

Today in North America, we are at an herbal crossroads. Many influences from the systems of traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda from Asia and India, respectively, are converging with the practice of Native American Indian medicine and traditional European herbalism that had taken root over the last centuries in North America. This is an exciting time for herbal medicine around the world. Educational programs, apprenticeships, and many good-quality texts and correspondence courses are available in many countries, and many more people are choosing herbal medicine as a career.