We know that early man first started communicating through speech. However, he had no means of storing information, keeping accounts or recording
events. The first step towards inventing writing was when man began to draw pictures of things he saw… mostly animals and birds, trees and flowers, the sun and moon.A giant step forward was taken when man learned to make pictures that represented not just an object, but a word in spoken language. The Sumerians of Mesopotamia were the first to do this over 5000 years ago. Later, the ancient Egyptians and Chinese also developed a form of picture writing.The next step was when each picture or sign stood for a single sound instead of for a whole word. This was the beginning of the alphabet. The Mediterranean people, the Hebrews and Phoenicians were the first to use an alphabet. In fact, the word ‘alphabet’ comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, ‘alpha’ and ‘beta’.The Phoenicians were great sea traders, and they needed a simple
and efficiency way of keeping accounts. So about 3000 years ago, they developed a system of 22 pictures that stood for the sound of consonants in their language … sound like ‘k’. ‘b’ or ‘f’. The Greeks later added signs that represented the vowel sounds like ‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’, and ‘u’. Over 2000 years ago, the Romans developed the Roman alphabet which is still in use. Man first started to write on stones or trees using sharp objects. Later, he used reeds to write on clay tablets. The ancient Egyptians also made a kind of paper from reeds called papyrus. During the middle Ages in Europe, people wrote on parchment which was made by splitting animals skin into thin layers. They used quills made with goose or turkey feathers to write. Paper and ink as we know them today, came much later
