HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AND CURRENT STATUS OF BEEKEEPING IN TURKEY AND THE WORLD

Abstract

Beekeeping history is as old as human history. In the cave paintings of 15000 BC, drawings related to beekeeping were found. There are Sumerians and Hittites in Anatolia, in China and India in Asia, in Egypt civilization in Africa and in Europe, there are beekeeping information on tablets, hieroglyphs. Primitive hives are used in beekeeping before and in the Middle Ages, and even in some regions, honey bees produced by bees are not taken and bee care is not performed. Beekeeping, which was carried out under primitive conditions until the 17th century, gained a scientific quality during these dates. The biology of bee and bee colony has been understood and modern bee hives have started to be used. Our country is more fortunate than other countries in terms of variety of flowering plants and richness of bee breeds. However, it lags behind the World ranking in the production of honey per hive. As a result of the development of beekeeping in our country and in the world, contribution will be made to the fields of economy and health. Because, besides honey, bees contribute to health as well as nutrition by producing pollen, propolis and royal jelly.