Archery is the practice of using a bow to shoot arrows at a target. Archery has historically been used in hunting and combat and has become a precision sport.

Experts in the sport of archery are called toxophilite.

The earliest roots of archery date back 50,000 years ago.

Classical civilizations, notably the Macedonians, Greeks, Persians, Parthians, Indians and Chinese, fielded large numbers of archers in their armies. Arrows proved exceptionally destructive against massed formations and the use of archers often proved decisive.

The crossbow, while dating from classical times, became quite popular during the Middle Ages. While it took many years to train a longbowman, someone could become proficient with a crossbow with remarkably little training.

Archery is highly popular and developed in Asia.

A recurve bow is the only bow allowed to be shot in the Olympic games.

A compound bow is was developed to reduce the force that an archer must apply, and increase the overall force stored by the bow.