The extraction of plants with the aid of water is one of the oldest techniques known to humankind for obtaining aromatic principles and medicaments from these sources. Extraction vessels excavated in Mesopotamia can be dated back to around 3500 BC, and Sumerian clay tablets describing the preparation of medicaments which were found in the same region date from around 2100 BC. The Greek and Roman civilisations of antiquity inherited extraction together with other skills from their predecessors, and this knowledge was passed on to Christendom by Arabian scholars. Europe of the Middle Ages saw the development of pharmacy, medicine, and mining, as well as the sugar industry, all of which made active use of extraction with a wide range of solvents. Whereas technological applications of extraction were thus steadily increasing prior to the industrial revolution, the equipment used underwent hardly any changes up the end of the 18(th) century. It was only in the 19(th) century that active development of equipment, materials, and modes of operation started, while successful combination of theory and practice and treatment of extraction by the methods of engineering science had to wait until the 20(th) century. This article reports about equipment, solvents, and extraction processes up to the beginning of the present century, and places then in a political and sociological context.