Most modern dictionaries give one of the meanings for the word caravan as “a camper equipped with living quarters”. They in turn give one of the meanings for camper as “a recreational vehicle equipped for camping out while travelling”. The earliest caravans were used for practical purposes rather than recreation, such as providing shelter and accommodation for people travelling in search of an audience for their art, or to offer their services to distant employers, or to reach a new place of abode. In Europe, wagons built to live in, rather than just to carry persons or goods, were developed in France around 1810. They were used in England by showmen and circus performers from the 1820s; but Gypsies only began living in caravans (vardos) from about 1850.

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