Short answers, pulled from the story.
A ceramic fragment from Western Mexico dated between 200 BCE and 500 CE depicts a figure seated inside a litter. This ancient image confirms that human-powered wheelless transport existed across continents long before the modern era.
The Third Council of Braga issued an order in 675 AD stating that bishops must walk to churches rather than be carried by deacons clothed in white. Popes later adopted a similar tradition using the sedia gestatoria until it was replaced by the popemobile.
Ibn Batutta described these vehicles being transported by eight men divided into two lots of four who rest and carry in turn. Smallest versions called dolis are simple frames suspended by bamboo poles borne by two people.
London had chairs available for hire starting in 1634 assigned numbers and licensed under a monopoly held by a courtier of King Charles I. A trip within a city cost six pence while a day rental required four shillings.
These items became very popular among the Ga in the last 50 years following an exhibition called Les magicians de la terre held in Paris in 1989. Chiefs of the Ga use figurative palanquins built after a chief's family symbol or totem.
Improvised sling-type litters appeared on the Bataan Death March in the Philippines in 1942. Doli service in Sabarimala served as military ambulances used to carry wounded soldiers from the battlefield.