Earliest Medical Tourism Centers

With many of the earliest civilizations, medical tourism manifested as trips to sacred temple baths and hot springs.  Written historical accounts of Mesopotamian, Indian, Egyptian, and Chinese cultures clearly document bathing and healing complexes erected around therapeutic springs.  As far back as the Bronze Age (2000 B.C.), hill tribes near present-day St. Moritz, Switzerland gathered around to drink and bathe in the iron-rich mineral springs of the region.  Bronze Age implements, including votive drinking cups, have also been found around thermal springs in France and Germany, as well as in Celtic mineral wells.

In 4000 B.C., the Sumerians constructed the earliest known health complexes alongside mineral water springs that included elevated temples and flowing pools.  Although many post-Sumerian civilizations probably understood and appreciated the healing effects of mineral-rich water, it was the Greeks who first laid the foundation for comprehensive health care systems and medical tourism networks.

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