Shoes in the modern world are not only part of the wardrobe. People say that if eyes and a smile deceive, then shoes will tell the truth.

Now it’s hard to imagine that once people walked barefoot. But natural conditions forced to come up with various devices for protecting the legs. Archaeologists believe that the first shoe appeared during the Paleolithic 30 thousand years ago. Ancient shoes were made from animal skins, and instead of "insoles" they used grass and moss.

In ancient Egypt, palm leaf sandals were made and, with leather straps, they were wound around their feet. At rich people, the straps were decorated with precious stones. AT

Ancient Greece wore leather "crepe" sandals, which were laced to the knee. The Greeks also knew how to sew beautiful boots - endromises with open fingers.

They were ordered for themselves by the beauties of getters. On the soles of their boots, the craftsmen made words so that there was a trace in the sand with the words "Follow me." Heteroseurs were the first to separate shoes on the right and left foot.

Sandals were also worn during the Roman Empire, but people with different statuses had different lengths of straps. At the nobility they were four times longer and beautifully decorated. It was impossible to visit public places in sandals, so women wore white shoes and men black. Only on holidays it was allowed to wear bright shoes. Most often it was purple and adorned with stones and brooches.

In medieval Europe, the fashion for shoes changed with the advent of new rulers. So, to rise above all, the kings wore platform shoes up to a meter high. In such shoes it was difficult for them to move around and the servants had to keep them all the time so that they would not fall.

Then the French king Philip IV issued a decree so that aristocrats wear shoes with bells and long noses bent up. The more noble the nobleman, the longer the noses of the shoes should be longer, and therefore they had to be wound around their feet with laces.

When King Charles VIII came to power, wide-nosed shoes came into fashion, as he had six toes on his feet.

At the end of the 17th century, men liked high-heeled shoes. The main lover of this fashion was Louis XIV, who was short and full. The heels were red so that they were clearly visible. Women started wearing high heels much later, before that it was considered indecent to show your shoes.

The invention of heels is attributed to the Mongol nomads, since boots with heels strengthened the legs more firmly in the stirrup. And during excavations in Israel, archaeologists found ancient "models" of shoes, to the heels of which were bottles of incense.

Unusually looked Scythian shoes. They wore tall boots made of soft leather with bright ornaments, with tightened straps to the very top. It was interesting that the sole of the boots was embroidered with beads. According to custom, the Scythians sat with folded legs so that the beautiful sole of the boots was visible.

Boots in Russia appeared during the raids of Asian nomads.They were made from rawhide, and later learned to make them from morocco.

The morocco boots were expensive and accessible only to wealthy people. Ordinary people wore "free" boots. In the old days, “freebies” were called bootlegs, which remained strong after the “head”, the lower part of the boot, wore out. These bootlegs were sewn to the new lower part and, again, they could be worn.

With the development of the modern shoe industry, interesting facts about shoes are becoming more and more, and they are as unusual and informative as those that history has preserved.