Since 1000 B.C. when the oar and fulcrum were developed, rowing has been a means of transportation. It actually developed into a sport in the early 19th century.
Eton boys were competing in eights in England in 1811. The first boat club in the U.S. appeared in New York Harbor in 1834 and a Yale student began an intramural college program in 1843. With that, the sport spread throughout the country. By 1873, there were 289 rowing clubs in the U.S.
Although rowing was supposed to debut in the first modern Games in Athens in 1896, rough weather pushed back its start to the 1900 Paris Games with five events, all men's.
The British and U.S. dominated in the early years, but the Soviet Union and East Germany changed that in the 1950s, and presently the field is wide open. Women's rowing entered the Montreal Games in 1976.