11 Ways People Used To Stay Cool In The Summer Before Air Conditioning

And what can we learn today?

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The idea of living without air conditioning is antithetical to the modern Western outlook on life. Many people claim that going without AC is impossible. When an air conditioner breaks, emergency technicians are dispatched to immediately fix the problem. But air conditioning is a thoroughly modern invention. It has only become ubiquitous in the last few decades. Before the 1950s, air conditioning was rare. Before 1900, it was nonexistent. People have lived and thrived in hot areas, and lived through every summer, without it.

So, how did they do it? How did people keep cool before air conditioning? And can we reduce our reliance on this technology in the name of a cleaner, greener, and healthier planet?

These are eleven ways that people would beat the heat in the days before air conditioning.

1. Fans

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The use of fans has been around for thousands of years, with the earliest handheld fans dating back to 2000 BCE. Fans are still used today to circulate stale air and cool people down when air conditioning isn’t…