The guitar is a very popular instrument with a long history, it was used and is still being used across a cornucopia of genres of music. It has a way of fading in and out of its public and popular status, but its history is quite rich and spread out amongst multiple civilisations, regions and cultures and is really something worth delving into.

HISTORY

The history of the guitar is a really confusing and controversial topic as it's predecessor — the lute, has a long history dating as far as 2500 BC or even farther if you can consider the stick like object the person is holding in the image a lute.


Source: pinterest.com
What is believed by some historians to be the evidence of the oldest lute.

Though the Mesopotamia tanbūr is considered to be one of the oldest lutes, the barbat has a direct and traceable lineage to the modern day guitar and is a more suitable starting point.

The barbat goes back to the first century BC though there are speculations which push it far back to 1500 BC, a Terra cotta statuette found at Dal'verzin Tepe (modern day southern Uzbekistan) put it at the first century BC mark. It has a soundboard made from animal hide and a bowel like pear shaped body made from a single piece of wood, five courses of strings — two strings per course, which were made from the guts of sheep, a tuning box and a short neck.


Source: en.wikipedia.org
A Barbat

al Nadr used a soundboard made of wood instead of skin and used individual strips of wood to make the soundbox which changed the instrument entirely, he then called it "al ūd" or the more anglicised form; the oud. The instrument made its entry into Mecca through Iraq and gained its fame in the Arab world which lasts till today.


Source: en.wikipedia.org
An Oud

The oud made its entry into Europe through the Moorish invasion of Andalusia (modern day Spain and Portugal) and also through Sicily. It became so popular that even after the Moors were forced out of Andalusia it remained in the West, soon enough frets were added to it along with the widening of the neck and the addition of courses birthing the European lute. More courses were added to the European lute, the end of the Renaissance period saw 10 courses added, which went up to 14 (some lutes had about 19) by the end of the Baroque period. This needed more innovation thus birthing the theorbo.

The vilhuela had started gaining fame amongst lutenists in the sixteenth century, the vilhuela introduced the hourglass shape design that modern day guitars use, it also provides more support because if Its structure. The baroque guitar came soon after and soon enough, started replacing lutes as a household instrument thus ending the popular status of lutes.

Different guitars with different designs were made for a long time up until the mid nineteenth century when the modern day guitar model was finally adopted thanks to luthiers like Manuel de y Solares and Antonio Torres Jurado who were popular at the time.

EVOLUTION

The guitar has undergone some evolution since the adoption of the modern day guitar design; the introduction of steel strings in the late nineteenth century in the United States. Nylon strings replaced gut strings on classical guitars in the 1940s plus the creation of the electric guitar in 1932 which has also undergone various modifications in design and parts.

It seems to me that the development of stringed instruments continues. Each country had its own stringed instruments and the guitar is a versatile combo option.