How Playing Cards Developed
May one be a member of a royal entourage or just a plain ordinary citizen people from all walks of life have long been entertained by playing cards.
The origin of playing cards is obscure, but it is reasonably certain that they were first used in Asia or Egypt, possibly before A.D. 1000. Most authorities believe that playing cards gradually evolved from and eventually took the place of arrows and other objects that were used in ancient times for games and fortune telling. The earliest research to them is in a Chinese dictionary of 1678 which mentioned that they had been invented for the amusement of the emperors concubines in 1120. Later authorities cite questionable sources that refer to cards in use before One thousand. Playing cards appeared in the southern area of and eastern Europe in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, although by whom they were used and how is not really definitely known.
