History of Martial Arts The oldest visual record of a fight sequence dates back to the 40th century BC from Egypt. The subjects were two people in some form of struggle. The second historical visual art found dates to the beginning of the 30th century, where poems were found regarding fighting as a sport. This one was found in Mesopotamia. Certain drawings were also found from Vietnam, which depicted some method of combat involving stick, bow, spear and sword.
The Chinese martial arts started from the Xia Dynasty around 4000 years from now. Emperor Huangdi also known as the Yellow Emperor, had introduced the earliest fighting in China. Around 2700 BC, before Huangdi became an emperor, he had written treatises on medicine, astrology and martial arts. Chi You, one of Huangdi's greatest competitors had introduced Jiao Di, which soon followed the modern Chinese wrestling. The modern martial arts are a mix of the ancient Chinese and Indian martial arts.
At the time of the warring states in China i.e. 480-221 BC, the Chinese made significant development in the martial philosophy and strategy. Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' is also a book released in that time. The art of Shaolinquan also originated because of the spread of Buddhism in the 5th Century AD.
In Europe, however, the martial arts were made famous from Ancient Greece. Boxing, wrestling and Pankration were glorified in the Ancient Olympics in Greece. The Romans also then produced the gladiatorial fighting for public amusement. Many combat manuals and books have been found to belong to the Medieval times. This included the sword and shield, two-handed sword fighting and other sorts of melee weapon games besides hand-to-hand fighting.
The Asian fighting methods also became famous and were documented and in the medieval period. The samurai nobility started in Japan in the 12th century. Moreover, Korea had introduced the Taekkyeon meanwhile Ji Xiao and Xin Shu in China and Agni Purana and Malla Purana were getting public attention.
Martial arts officially became sports in the mid to end 19th century. Boxing, fencing, the modern formations of karate, jujitsu, judo, kendo and various other forms became known around the world. Edward William Barton taught Europeans the martial arts in 1890s. He had also introduced a new form of fighting that is a blend of judo, jujitsu, savate, boxing and stick fighting.
In 1920, the International boxing association was formed. The World Fencing Championships are also being held since 1921. Jujitsu, Karate and Judo were popularized worldwide during the 1950s to 1960s era. The term kick boxing was created by a Japanese boxing
promoter. The media soon became interested in Kungfu and more movies based on martial arts and different fighting styles started to become popular. This interest was influenced by Bruce Lee in 1970s. Jackie Chan then became one of the most famous martial artists in the late 70s. On November 29, 2011, Taekkyeon was inscribed into the UNESCO's 'Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity' list.
Source:
http://www.researchomatic.com/an-analysis-of-visual-effects-inmartial-arts-with-film-and-tv-industry-in-20th-century-111387.html