Natural Cork has a long and distinguished history as an agricultural product. In ancient times, cork bark was used to form sandal soles, food storage vessels, and floats for fishing nets. There are mentions of cork and its uses in many ancient documents and literature surviving from as far back as 400 BC.
Seventeenth century French monk, Dom Perignon, is credited with being the first to recognize the ability of cork to contain sparkling wines. This discovery is responsible for establishing development of cork bottle-stopper production into the important industry it is today. Over time, cork became more and more important as a cash crop resulting in governmental regulation offering protection and placing restriction on ownership, production, and harvesting.
Rulers in Portugal were quick to recognize the economic value of cork and took early steps to secure its benefit for themselves. By the 14th century, ownership, growth, harvest, and sale of cork was closely regulated, even to the point of dictating how windfall branches could be disposed of. Many of these restrictions are still in place and can surely be credited with the strength of Portuguese cork production in the world economy. Portugal is the leader in corkwood farming at more than 50% of production and is responsible for many of the internationally adopted protective measures governing the growth and manufacture of Natural Cork. In Algeria and Tunisia, cork trees were not offered similar protection which resulted in almost complete deforestation by the turn of the last century. An effort to replant the region has experienced some success.