The exact time and process by which humans first learned to ice skate is unknown but primitive animal bone ice skates have been found in Scandinavia and Russia, some dating back to about 3000 BC.

In the ancient world, ice skating was a form of transportation, as figure skating historian James R. Hines put it, passage over frozen surfaces "was a necessity for survival during harsh winter months

The earliest clear, written mention of ice skating is found in a book written in the 12th century by William Fitzstephen, a monk in Canterbury. In the work, centered on Thomas Becket, he describes a scene taking place below the northern city walls of Canterbury during the winter:

and it reads:

if the moors in Finsbury and Moorfield freeze over, children from London play. 

Some of the children have attached bones to their ankles, and carry well-worn sticks. 

They fly across the ice like birds, or well-fired arrows. 

The sticks that Fitzstephen refers to were used for movement, as the primitive bone-made ice skates didn't  have sharp gliding edges like modern ice skates do.

Adding edges to ice skates was invented by the Dutch in the 13th or 14th century. This revolutionized ice skating by introducing sharpened metal blades. These blades allowed skaters to cut into the ice, paving the way for the controlled movements we recognize today.

The first skating club emerged in Edinburgh in 1744, and by the late 18th century, skating had become a leisure activity for the elite in Europe. 

Robert Jones’s 1772 instructional book on figure skating marked a turning point, splitting the sport into speed skating and artistic figure skating

In the 19th century, ice skating grew popular in North America. 

Public rinks, like New York’s Central Park pond, transformed skating into a social phenomenon, where men and women could mingle freely, a rarity at the time.

By the 20th century, ice skating became a global sensation. 

From figure skating’s artistry to the adrenaline of ice hockey and speed skating, the sport continues to captivate audiences at the Winter Olympics and beyond.