Bungee cord is made of one or more strands of an elastic material, usually rubber, bound together by a fabric covering. It is commonly used as a tie-down for luggage or equipment carried on the outside of a vehicle. Bungee cord is also used by the military to absorb the opening shock of the large cargo parachutes when dropping heavy loads such as tanks. The development of long, heavy-duty bungee cord for the military has led to the recreational sport of bungee jumping. In this sport, the participant jumps from an elevated structure while wearing a harness attached to one end of a long bungee cord with the other end attached to the structure.
The term "bungee" or "bungie" is thought to be British slang for india-rubber. Some references to the india-rubber originally used for erasing pencil marks on paper call it "india-bungie." Another source claims the term was derived from the Anglo-Indian word "bangy" referring to the colloquial term for a yoke carried on the shoulder with two equal loads suspended by cords front and rear. In either case, the concepts of an elastic material and load-bearing cords both apply to the modern bungee cord.
The history of bungee jumping as a sport or test of courage is believed to date back 1500 years to Pentecost Island in what is now the Republic of Vanuatu in the South Pacific. According to local legend, a wife felt she was being mistreated by her husband and fled, taking refuge in a tall tree. As her husband was climbing the tree in pursuit, she secretly tied vines around her ankles. When he tried to grab her, she jumped. He jumped after her and fell to his death. The springy vines broke her fall and she lived. After that, the men of the island decided that no woman should ever trick them again, and they began to practice jumping with vines. In time, it became a test of courage, with the bravest men jumping from a height of 80 feet (24 m) to have their heads brush the ground before the vines completely stopped their fall.
Modern bungee jumping using elastic bungee cords started in the late 1970s. On April Fools' Day in 1979, the Oxford Dangerous Sports Club of Britain caught the public's attention when members bungeed off the 245-foot (75 m) Clifton Bridge in Bristol, England. Since that time, bungee jumping has become a commercialized sport with thousands of participants.
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