The history of torture and its techniques or devices from antiquity through the medieval period is extensive. However, there is a considerable gap between the 15th century and the 21st century in terms of technological advancements in torture. This is mostly due to the enlightenment period when humanitarianism began to take major roots. While the list of torture techniques is extensive and unsettling, it is an important part of its history. There is not much history on human rights or morality regarding torture, because it was mostly used as a means of eliciting evidence from a witness or from an accused person either before or after condemnation. The history of torture consists mostly of the techniques used as punishment or interrogation and their development. While today many of these methods seem like unspeakable crimes against humanity, they were perfectly acceptable methods of interrogation up until about the 15th century. The word torture is also misused profusely, so it first seems necessary to define it. The word torture originates from “the late Latin tortura and ultimately deriving from the past participle of torquere meaning to twist. Thus, the meaning of torture has greatly changed over the centuries. However, most would think torture would be any pain inflicted on an innocent bystander for no reason. However, Merriam Webster Dictionary defines torture as: “ The infliction of intense pain to punish, coerce, or afford sadistic pleasure”. This definition is a long way to go from the latin “torquere” or to twist. So, a group of thugs beating a passerby in an alley for no reason is not considered torture. They are causing him pain, but for it to qualify as torture the thugs would need to be trying to coerce or punish the passerby. However, a group of radicals fighting for what they think is the greater good by beating some government official is torture, since they are trying to get answers or punish him. The main distinction to be made is that the radicals are acting with a goal while the thugs might just be bored.