Honeybee history
Ancient Egyptians worshipped bees in their role as pollinators. Bees were correctly viewed as contributors to an abundant harvest.
L.L. Langstroth
Who was Langstroth? Langstroth is considered the father of modern bee keeping. He actually invented the hives that we use today where there is a box that is filled with hanging frames. His important discovery was what he called “bee space”. This is a distance of 3/8-¼ inch or less that bees use as a passageway. If the space is less than that width, bees fill it with sticky bee sealant called propolis. If the space is larger than that width, they will fill it with honeycomb. Langstroth designed a hive where all the spaces were ¼ of an inch. He was a Congregationalist minister and took up beekeeping to keep his depression at bay. Next year will be his 200th birthday and Science Friday is celebrating it by developing a curriculum for schools to learn about bees and working to convince the Postal Service that L. L. Langstroth is worthy of a stamp. You can find out more at :http://scifri.org/dte/about/projects/bee-science/postage-due/. There is some time sensitivity to this as letters need to be into the post office before the end of the year.
Beekeepers in Southeast Asia smoked honeybee hives in found in trees to confuse the bees, and then climbed the tree — risking multiple stings and injury — to cut down the nest and harvest the honey.
Maluccan honey harvesters in Malaysia still use this method in the rainforest.
Bee tree in Malaysia