Introduction to Perfume
When you mention “perfume,” the first thing that comes to mind might be scented liquids in fancy bottles. But the name itself, derived from the Latin “per fumum” – meaning “through smoke” – suggests that what we mean by “perfume” today is very different from its origins and uses among our ancestors. The history of perfume is a study of scientific breakthroughs, knowledge transfer, trade expansion, colonialism, and resource extraction, as well as modern Eurocentric marketing.
Scent as Old as Time
All ancient Chinese, Hindus, Egyptians, Israelites, Carthaginians, Arabs, Greeks, and Romans were supposedly familiar with perfumery. References to perfume and its use can also be found in the Bible and in the hadiths (the sayings or deeds) of the Prophet Mohammed. In early perfumery, which dates back over 4,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia, aromatic substances such as frankincense and myrrh were burned in the belief that the rising smoke provided a bridge between the earth and the divine.
The earliest recorded “nose” – or highly skilled master perfumer – was a woman named Tapputi, a chemist whose work in Mesopotamia is documented on a cuneiform tablet dating to around 1,200 B.C. According to archaeochemist Barbara Huber, "perfume" over time has encompassed a wide range of fragrant materials and practices: incense and aromatic woods, scented oils, balms, ointments, and even cosmetics. Many of them were not only used for personal adornment but also served ritual purposes, offerings to deities, cleansing, or healing.
From Smoke to Distillation
What began as incense and balm was transformed into liquid distillations in the Arab world during the Islamic Golden Age. In 9th-century Baghdad, the polymath Al-Kindi wrote The Book of the Chemistry of Perfume and Distillations, the first comprehensive manual on perfumery. A century later, the Persian polymath Ibn Sina (known in the West as Avicenna) refined steam distillation to extract "attars" (or essential oils) from flowers, particularly roses, which became a model for later perfumers.
How the West was Conquered
These advances reached Europe through several routes. Al-Andalus – the then Muslim-ruled parts of Spain and Portugal between the 8th and 15th centuries – served as a scholarly bridge where Toledo-based scholars translated Arabic texts into Latin. At the same time, Mediterranean trade transported rose water and spices to ports such as Venice and Genoa, while the Crusades introduced Europeans firsthand to Arabic medicinal and aromatic practices. But the Arab world’s advanced techniques and rich ingredients reinvigorated European perfumery, transforming it into the sophisticated industry it would later become, using alcohol as a base to create lighter, longer-lasting perfumes.
Water of Colonialism
As European perfumery, particularly in France, flourished, colonial expansion provided the ingredients that supported the emerging industry. Marketing images tend to portray raw materials as timeless gifts from nature, often framed by a vaguely postcolonial exoticism. The complex questions of land ownership, working conditions, pricing, and environmental impact are usually ignored. A striking example is vanilla. Brought to Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century, it became an important colonial plant in the Indian Ocean.
A Touch of Eurocentrism
Over time, European perfume houses became the focus of branding and marketing, cementing the association of sophistication with European aesthetics. While the base ingredients come from diverse global regions with rich historical traditions of aromatic use, the presentation and marketing narratives often tend to be Eurocentric. Some European perfume houses that classify scents as “oriental” have also attracted considerable criticism. A change.org petition opposing such categorization states: "The ‘Orient’ seeks to encompass a vast region, including the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, where many ancient perfumery practices and raw materials originated.
The Influence of PerfumeTok
Today, a global audience can easily learn about previous niche or region-specific scents through TikTok influencers and their unboxing roles. An early viral sensation on PerfumeTok — TikTok’s hashtag for fragrances — was Phlur’s "Missing Person," which sold out in 2022 and amassed an initial waiting list of more than 200,000 people in the US. Meanwhile, young entrepreneurs in India are reimagining ittars (essential oils) made using centuries-old methods as sustainable luxury via Instagram and digital storytelling, demonstrating how social media can reconnect consumers to traditions that colonial trade may once have pushed into the background.
Conclusion
The history of perfume – as well as its top, heart, and base notes – is diverse. And just as no single perfume can capture every scent in the world, no single retelling can encompass the diverse stories of scents. As Alexandre Helwani says, every perfume spray carries a lot of heritage. "That’s what I love about perfume: it’s a very small gesture on the skin with a huge, layered story behind it."
