Apiculture: This is the study of bee-keeping for obtaining wax and honey. Beekeeping is also known as apiculture, it is taken from Latin apis, bee. Apiculture is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, by humans. A beekeeper or an apiarist keeps bees in order to collect honey or other products of the hive like propolis, beeswax, pollen, or royal jelly, to pollinate crops, or to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers. The location where bees are kept is known as an apiary or "bee yard".
Collecting honey from wild bee colonies in hives is one of the most ancient human activities or it is still practiced by aboriginal societies in parts of Asia, Africa, Australia or South America. From some of the earliest evidence of gathering honey from wild bee's colonies is from rock paintings. Gathering honey from wild bee colonies is generally done by subduing the bees with smoke and breaking open the tree or rocks where the colony is located, this often resulting in the physical destruction of the nest location.