A feast for the eyes!

The word tattoo comes from the Tahitian "tatu" which means "to mark something."

Traditionally, Makonde tattoos (pictured left) were considered to be regional indicators and each tribe preferred specific motifs that were laid down in a variety of set patterns in the early 1960s. The face and other parts of the body contained chevrons, angles, zigzag and straight lines with an occasional circle, diamond, dot, or animal figure. Some people think Makonde from Mozambique and the southern part of Tanzania were the first people to invent tattoos.

Other think Samuel O'Reilly who invented the electric tattooing machine in 1891.

But the history of tattoo began over 5000 years ago and is as diverse as the people who wear them.Humans have marked their bodies with tattoos for thousands of years. These permanent designs—sometimes plain, sometimes elaborate, always personal—have served as amulets, status symbols, declarations of love, signs of religious beliefs, adornments and even forms of punishment.

The first tattoos probably were created accidentally by a cave man, who someonehad a small wound, and rubbed it with a hand that was dirty with soot and ashes from the fire ..After a few days he noticed that the mark had healed but the carbon black in the ash left a lasting mark.... And that led him to try it again on himself ......And the first tattooist was born, or rather made....... But will we ever know for sure?

Most folks thought that possibly the south seas islanders may have been the first to tattoo, simply because that was the place where northern Europeans found the first people to use tattooing amongst all the native people..... they believe he was the oldest known tattooed person....Of course there were probably older than him.
The tattooed right hand of a frozen Chiribaya mummy is displayed at El Algarrobal Museum, near the port of Ilo in southern Peru. The Chiribaya were farmers who lived from A.D. 900 to 1350.

So who was the first????