Editing Boot (section)

==History==
[[File:Oxhide boots. Loulan, Xinjiang. Early Han 220 BCE - 8 CE.jpg|thumb|Oxhide boots from [[Loulan (town)|Loulan]], Xinjiang, China. [[Former Han]] dynasty 220 BC – AD 8]]
Early boots consisted of separate [[leggings]], soles, and uppers worn together to provide greater ankle protection than shoes or [[sandal]]s. Around 1000 BC, these components were more permanently joined to form a single unit that covered the feet and lower leg, often up to the knee. A type of soft leather ankle boots were worn by [[nomads]] in eastern Asia and carried to China to India and Russia around AD 1200 to 1500 by [[Mongol]] invaders. The [[Inuit]] and [[Aleut]] natives of Alaska developed traditional winter boots of [[caribou]] skin or sealskin featuring decorative touches of seal intestine, dog hair and suchlike. 17th century [[Europe]]an boots were influenced by military styles, featuring thick soles and turnover tops that were originally designed to protect horse mounted soldiers. In the 1700s, distinctive, [[thigh-high boots]] worn by [[Hessian (soldiers)|Hessian]] soldiers fighting in the [[American Revolutionary War]] influenced the development of the iconic heeled [[cowboy boots]] worn by cattlemen in the [[American west]].<ref name="McDonald2006">{{cite book|author=Fiona McDonald|title=Shoes and Boots Through History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WCyp2q7nQAkC|access-date=26 January 2012|date=30 July 2006|publisher=Gareth Stevens|isbn=978-0-8368-6857-9}}</ref>