n our culture, when the term "martial arts" is used, the image that comes to most people's minds is specifically the fighting arts of Eastern Asia. Karate, Kung Fu, and Judo are representative of this idea. However, it's a much more all-encompassing term, and the implications make it far more ancient than what you might think.

The earliest record of the term "martial arts" was from 15th century Europe, and it was used to describe European fighting styles. Fighting arts in general have gone by a wide variety of terms, such as "Art of Strategy" as used by the legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi, "Art of War" as used by Sun Tsu, and so on. Whatever the term, it denotes a systematized form of combat.

Records of codified fighting techniques date back at least to the Bronze Age, or the 20th Century BCE. In the tomb of Amenemhet, pharaoh of Egypt during this time, was discovered a mural depicting wrestlers. Created earlier than that, in the 26th Century BCE, "The Standard of Ur" depicted an armed battle scene, complete with chariots and bladed weapons. Both imply that standardized forms of combat existed possibly throughout recorded history.

It is generally assumed that the Oriental styles had their origins with the establishment of trade routes between China and India around 600 BCE. Many of the strategies and combat philosophies that developed at that time were codified in Sun Tsu's "The Art of War."

Now, fast forward to the British colonization of Asia in the 19th Century. Britain had a tendency whenever they took over a country to suppress the local culture's fighting styles. In Ireland, they outlawed bataireacht, the system of stick fighting with a shillelagh or cudgel. Asia was no exception, and this was emphasized by the introduction of firearms.

Since then, martial arts have made a resurgence as the need for self defense has never gone away. The popularity of the Eastern forms was largely influenced by Bruce Lee in his films. Now, an ever growing variety of forms are being developed, some are reconstructed from the records, and others are synthesized from living traditions.