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Tarot cards originated from playing cards. These appeared first in China, as strips of paper used for gambling. However, a fifteenth century deck from Egypt is the earliest discovered that bears recognisable suits, aces, numbered and court cards. It's possible that this design was influenced by the Chinese strips.
Reinterpretation of the Islamic Egyptian designs triggered the evolution of the cards into more recognisable forms. Firstly, the court cards were elaborated and extended into images of historical and mythological figures. Then the trump cards were added, their images derived from various sources, including Petrarchan poetry and medieval mystery plays.
The cards began to be used for divination (or 'fortune-telling') in the eighteenth century. Since then, generations of occult scholars have forged new interpretations of the tarot, notably: Éliphas Lévi; MacGregor Mathers and Arthur Edward Waite (both members of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn); and Aleister Crowley.
Source: Paul Huson, Mystical Origins of the Tarot: from Ancient Roots to Modern Usage (Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books, 2004).