Archaeologists found traces of hemp in modern day China & Taiwan. People used hemp for pottery, food, seed, oil and natural hemp based medicine. 

Hindu sacred text Atharvaveda (Science of Charms) as "Sacred Grass", one of the five sacred plants of India.

Archaeologists found a jar of hemp seed and leaves in Berlin, Germany. Use of hemp continues to spread across northern Europe. 

First hemp paper mills appear in China and the Middle East and the first people-powered them using animals or water. 

King Henry VIII, King of England, fines farmers if they do not raise hemp.

Jamestown, first permanent English settlement in the Americas, grows hemp to make ropes, sails and clothing. 

U.S. Founders write early drafts of The Declaration of Independence on hemp paper. 

Abraham Lincoln uses hemp seed oil to fuel his household lamps.

USDA publishes findings showing hemp produces 4x more paper per acre than trees.

The Marijuana Tax Act placed a tax on all cannabis sales (including hemp), heavily discouraging production of hemp.

USDA initiates the "Hemp for Victory" program leading to more than 150,000 acres of hemp production. And Henry Ford builds an experimental car body with hemp fiber, which is 10x stronger than steel. 

The Controlled Substances Act, classified hemp as an illegal Schedule 1 drug. Strict regulations imposed on the cultivation of industrial hemp as well as marijuana. 

North Circuit Court decision in Hemp Industries Associations vs. DEA permanently protects sales of hemp foods and body care products in the U.S. (but not hemp fiber or other derivatives).

The first hemp licenses in over 50 years were granted to two North Dakota farmers.

President Obama signed the Farm Bill, which allowed research institutions to start piloting hemp farming.

After failed attempts to pass hemp-specific laws, an amendment to the Agricultural Improvement of 2018 (aka the "Farm Bill") legalized hemp in the U.S. Pres. Trump signed the bill into law on December 20, 2018. 

This amendment removed the hemp plant, along with any of its seeds and derivatives from the Controlled Substances Act. A huge win for the Hemp industry.