Waterboarding is interorrogation techniques that involves torture. According to the NPR, it is also known as "water torture" and first documented in the 14th century.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15886834

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Waterboarding actually refers to two different interrogation techniques. One involves pumping water directly into the stomach. "This creates intense pain. It feels like your organs are on fire," says Darius Rejali, a professor at Reed College in Oregon and author of a new book, Torture and Democracy.

The other technique — the one more widely used today — involves choking the victim by filling their throat with a steady stream of water — a sort of "slow-motion drowning" that was perfected by Dutch traders in the 17th century. They used it against their British rivals in the East Indies.
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