Before humanity built snowshoes, nature provided examples. Several animals, most notably the snowshoe hare, had evolved over the years with oversized feet enabling them to move more quickly through deep snow.

The origin and age of snowshoes are not precisely known, although historians believe they were invented from 4,000 to 6,000 years ago, probably starting in Central Asia. Strabo wrote that the inhabitants of the Caucasus used to attach flat surfaces of leather under their feet and that the Armenians used round wooden surfaces instead.

Two groups of snowshoe pioneers diverged early on, setting patterns that can still be seen today. One group abandoned the snowshoe as it migrated north to what is now Scandinavia, eventually turning the design into the forerunners of the Nordic ski. The other went northeast, eventually crossing the Bering Strait into North America.

North American indigenous peoples

Here, their descendants developed the most advanced and diverse snowshoes prior to European exploration and colonization. Nearly every Native American tribe developed its own particular shape of shoe, the simplest and most primitive being those of the far north. The Inuit have two styles, one being triangular in shape and about 18 inches (45 cm) in length, and the other almost circular, both reflecting the need for high flotation in deep, loose and powdery snow. However, contrary to popular perception, they did not use their snowshoes much since they did most of their foot travel in winter over sea ice or on the tundra, where snow does not pile up deeply.

Southward the shoe becomes gradually narrower and longer, the largest being the hunting snow-shoe of the Cree, which is nearly 6 ft. long (more than 1.5 meters) and turned up at the toe. Even smaller models, developed most notably by the Iroquois, are narrower and shorter, reflecting the need for maneuverability in forested areas where wetter and shallower snow cover during winter made flotation less important.

The Plains Indians wore snowshoes on their wintertime buffalo hunts before horses were introduced. Despite their great diversity in form, snowshoes were, in fact, one of the few cultural elements common to all Native American tribes that lived where the winters were snowy.
This article was supplied by Wikipedia.org

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