From Barefoot To Stilettos

Millions of years ago, where the rugged terrains and harsh weather conditions challenged the early humans, a curious tribe roamed the lands. They were clever beings who had mastered the art of survival, but their feet bore the brunt of the unforgiving earth beneath them.
As they wandered through dense forests and across vast deserts, they devised ingenious ways to protect their feet. At first, they wrapped their feet in simple materials like animal hides and plant fibers, offering a crude yet functional form of footwear. These early foot coverings shielded them from sharp rocks and thorns, protecting their delicate soles.
The earliest examples of actual footwear, a pair of sandals found in California, date to only about 9,000 years ago.During the Kassite period which is 1600–1200 BCEin Mesopotamia, soft shoes were introduced by mountain people on the border of Iran who ruled Babylonia during that time.
This first type of shoe was a simple wraparound of leather, with the basic construction of a moccasin, held together on the foot with rawhide lacings. Greek women often went barefoot or wore sandals, but indoors they sometimes wore soft closed shoes, which became luxurious in the Hellenistic period, with white or red the preferred colours.
Until the 5th century BCE, when Greek influence became dominant, the Etruscans wore a high, laced shoe with a turned-up toe. The Romans, who established shoe guilds, developed shaped shoes fitted for the left or right foot. Their footwear was differentiated according to sex and rank.
Climatic evidence suggests that people were probably protecting their feet from frigid conditions by about 50,000 years ago. Changes in foot shape and toe strength indicate that people were using footwear with substantial soles by about 40,000 years ago.
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