The langstroth Hive is named after its inventor, Reverend L. L. Langstroth. Rev. Langstroth published a book in 1853 that moved beekeeping forward in leaps and bounds. It was called, Langstroth's Hive and The Honey-bee, The Classic Beekeeper’s Manual.
The langstroth hive is one of the most common designs of bee hive in use worldwide today and many of the others are based on this design. The langstroth beehive is what is called a movable frame beehive. The frame is a rectangular wooden surround that holds the combs. There are usually nine or ten of these per super. The super is the "box" that the frame hangs in. Box is in quotes because it is really not a box at all. There is no top or bottom on the box. You hang the frames in the super.
Before this "standardization" of bee hives, beekeepers had many different ways of "keeping" their bees. One that we are all familiar with is the bee skep, made from straw that is tied together and them coiled on itself. In the center of the state flag of Utah is a bee skep!
Here's a real cottage industry: The master and his two apprentices ( probably his boys). It looks like the one in the center is working on the top part of a skep, the dad on the body, and the other boy is joining the two together. From the looks of things, it's not their first day on the job.
Shown below are some other ways people used to house their bees. These pictures were taken from a bunch of bee-related "glass slides" I purchased some years ago. Most were labeled as to country of origin, but some like the one directly below, unfortunately, were not.
These next two are from Russia, and somewhat of an enigma to me. I believe the 55 gallon drum looking thing in the foreground of the first picture, is what the others were before being wrapped and given a crushed tumblweed-like hat. Would that be to keep the "hive" cool in the summer heat?
The second picture has those same drum-like hives lying on their sides, covered by some sort of mat or something. Maybe the covering in this case is to hold in the heat of the hive, but I'm only guessing. 
A wonderful old photo from Algeria. In the forefront three older hive types next to a wooden, "langstroth-type" modern hive. There's also a hand-crank honey extractor between the first and second row of hives. All of the hives are elevated off the ground, perhaps because of insects or snakes in the region.
To me, the most unusual is the "stone hives" from The Caucases. I love the guy's hat, or wait, is that a bee swarm on his head?
Another one from The Caucases. More barrel hives. These are covered with a thick layer of straw or grass.
Here's one from Denmark. Looks to be a beekeeper explaining his apiary to a dozen or so young women. I'm impressed at how neat and orderly the beeyard is. The little building in the background would've been for extracting the honey crop. 
This one from Tunis looks to be a beeyard in back of a church. Is the teacher clothed in monk's robes or is that just my imagination? I count five young men gathered around him. He could be pointing out the queen or a brood nest to them. The boy closest to him is holding an old style bee smoker of the type popular around the 1900's. None of them is wearing any protective clothing, such as gloves or a bee veil!
The fellow in this one is holding a deep, woven basket that serves as a hive. This is apparently how it was done in this region of Mexico years ago. At different intervals along the length of the basket, a stick would be inserted all the way through. This served as something for the bees to attach their honeycomb to.
A large apiary in Peru. The hives are fairly modern looking. Could this be a "staged" picture? The two young boys are carrying empty hive bodies, the guy on the right is holding a hive body, and the other guy appears to be looking at a frame. The whole thing just looks a little stilted to me.
Not a Tasmanian Devil, just a Tasmanian beekeeper! The bee smoker he's holding could be a "bingham". One of that type smoker is pictured below.
Not a Tasmanian Devil, just a Tasmanian beekeeper! The bee smoker he's holding could be a "bingham". One of that type smoker is pictured below.
All this talk of bees has made me hungry for a PB & H! Another interesting topic would be vintage beekeeping equipment such as honey extractors, bee smokers, swarm catchers, and so on.
