Hall of Jades: All About Jade

Where in the World

Jade has been important to the people of China for centuries, but it is also found and used in many other parts of the world. Throughout history, people across the globe have worn it as ornament or used it to make tools.

Prehistoric farmers along the lakeshores of alpine Europe, including parts of present-day Switzerland, were making tools from jade from around 4000 B.C.

People in the Americas—including the Olmec, Maya, Aztec, and other pre-Hispanic peoples of Mexico and Central America, and the Arctic Woodland culture of northwest Alaska—have used jade to make tools, ornaments, and religious objects for centuries.

The Maori people of New Zealand have prized green jade—known as pounamu—above all other materials, believing it to be deeply connected with the “life force” that inhabits every living and non-living thing. The Maori have long used jade for their most important personal objects, ornaments, weapons, and tools.

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