With kite traditions much like those of India, the kite mania of Pakistanis has been a frequent subject of government crackdown. Use of glass-coated manjha poses safety concerns, but enthusiasts are known to fly with fine wire: dangerous to people and animals and destructive to electrical systems.
Indigenous Maoris flew kites for ceremonial reasons believing that manu, bird-shaped kites were communicators between human beings and the gods. Early kites were made with indigenous materials including mulberry aute cloth, raupo, and cutty grass. Frames were
Mexico has a strong artistic heritage so it is natural that kites would be found throughout the country, even though basic kite making materials are often difficult to obtain. Basic diamond-shaped, flat kites were the typical toy kite of the 20th century, but Eastern coastal regions are influenced by Caribbean designs.
Layang-layang and wau are Malaysian words for kite, in another Southeast Asia kite hotbed. With a history that may be 2000 years old, kites in Malaysia are subjects in popular folklore and were a part of Royal sporting life 500 years ago.
The rectangular Korean fighter, with a hole centered in its sail, is unique in the world’s fighting kite landscape. It is flown with the mechanical advantage of a fast-spinning, long-handled winder that gives the accomplished flier great control over huge aerial distances.
A country with one of the richest kite heritages in the world, Indonesia boasts the leaf kites of Sulawesi, the Pechukan, Janggan, and Bebean of Bali, the Sumbulan of central Java, among many others. The country’s kites are made from a variety of materials. Frames are made of bamboo; sails of cotton fabric, paper, foil, wax paper, leafs, or cassava paper.
The earliest illustration of a European kite is in Walter de Milemete’s De Nobilitatibus (1326/27), a possibly three-dimensional dragon. Pennon kites were common and popular in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. By the 18th and 19th century, the pear- and diamond-shaped kites were the most illustrated designs.
Kites (el volantin), along with tops (el trompo) and soccer (el emboque), are among the traditional pastimes of Chilean youth. Kites are often flown to fight others, with home made glass-coated line for cutting.
There are many kite cultures in modern Caribbean countries and most feature kites flown during the Easter season. It is probable that kites arrived in these countries via the slave trade of the 1700s and 1800s and have evolved to six- or eight-sided forms frequently associated with Bermuda. As in the Polynesian islands, Caribbean islands are home to a variety of plants that are readily adaptable to kite forms. Several island kite fliers describe the use of cocoa leaves as their first kites. Today, kite boarding is a popular sport in the islands.
Like Australia, Canada’s place in world kite history occurred at the beginning of the 20th century. Alexander Graham Bell’s experiments with tetrahedral kites and his establishment of the Aerial Experiment Association led to the first powered aircraft flights in Canada. The AEA brought together an impressive group of early aeronauts; Douglas McCurdy, Casey Baldwin, Glenn Curtiss, and Thomas Selfridge.