American Archery

While Native Americans depended on archery for survival, archery as a sport never caught on in America as it had in England. When the infamous Robin Hood was participating in archery competitions in the 1100s, and armies of Central Asia were implementing archery into their military tactics up until the 1500s, the United States did not exist. Certainly important in the history of archery, the Native Americans taught many English settlers and colonists the ways of the bow and arrow. As technology progressed, however, the methods for hunting and fighting changed drastically. By the late 1700s, when Americans were fighting for independence from England, gun technology made archery in wartime obsolete. By the 18th and 19th centuries, participation in archery competitions in England had decreased and American tournament archery waned with it. Toward the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the sport again became more prominent in America and worldwide. Today, elite athletes participate in the centuries-old art. And with the emergence of more contemporary stories of Robin Hood and popular culture archers like Green Arrow from comic books and Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games, archery is slowly climbing the ranks as one of America’s favorite sports.