BREEFING

¿When did Polo emerge?

The first records of its practice are described in parchments found in Central Asia. They reported that shortly after the domestication of the horse, during the reign of Darius I the Great (521-485 BC) and the founding of the second Iranian empire, there were sporting events with horses celebrated in honor of the Persian royalty. Later in the dawn of the ninth century, the historian and poet Ferdowsi narrated in his book Shahanameh, royal polo tournaments.

Encounters of this sport were widely spread throughout Asia; these arrived in China two centuries later and became part of the royalty's hobbies. During more than 5 centuries the rulers of old Asia maintained this sport as one of their favorite hobbies. The queens also practiced it as well as the nobility and the warriors. From Japan to Egypt and India to Byzantium, the towns from the Far East held Polo as their national sport.

Polo arrived to the West in the 19th century thanks to a representative of the British government who established in Manipur (to the northeast of the India) and wrote an outline of the sport, contributing to its diffusion throughout Europe.

Source: polo.co.uk; “History of Polo”, in archeonlink.org