The earliest backpacks (also called rucksacks, packsacks, or knapsacks), date beyond recorded history, as humans have long devised bags with shoulder straps to help them transport personal belongings. But the first widespread backpack use can be traced to 19th-century Norway and the “sekk med meis,” literally meaning “bag with a frame,” which was an animal-skin rucksack mounted on a narrow wooden frame. Following the Civil War, the...Continue Reading