In its most basic sense, a wheelchair is a seat on wheels. The seats and the wheels has been around since nearly the dawn of civilization on several continents – some similar devices, the chariots, date back to at least 2000 BC. The first documented wheelchair was invented in 1595 for Phillip II of Spain, during German Renaissance, who in his later years suffered from such severe gout and was walking with difficulty. It is possible that the wheelchairs were in existence, in one form or another, long before this.
Did you know some vase artwork from ancient Greek has survived until modern days and it shows that long-gone empire probably had wheelchairs? The written texts are missing, so it is difficult for us to know exactly how they were used. That devices could have been used as a chariot, for work, or even for transporting sick or disabled people from one place to another.
Some historians believe the Chinese may have been the first civilization to use them strictly for transporting handicapped individuals. Anyway, they have been using and engraving on stones wheelchairs from some time (since roughly 525 AD).
In their known history of four centuries have improved constantly and they become better today in the modern world.
In 1665 the first self-propelled wheelchair was invented by Stephan Farffler, a 22-year-old German paraplegic watchmaker. The device was built on a three-wheel chassis and it had hand cranks attached to the front wheel. At the end of the Renaissance Era in Western Europe, wheelchairs became more commonplace in places such as Great Britain and Spain, and they were widely used by elderly, sick and handicapped individuals as an easier mode of transportation.
Around the start of the 19th century, wheelchairs became a popular piece of medical technology all around the world. Without any engine, they stayed almost the same until the invention of motor, but once motors started to be used in wheelchairs in the 20th century, the whole industry change. Since then the handicapped individuals became a lot more mobile.
