History of Gunpowder

A detailed Summary of History of Gunpowder

It could easily be argued that one of the most important inventions or discoveries

in history has been gunpowder. And there are many things that can be argued about

gunpowder itself. Such as where was it originated, when was it originated, and how did it

spread across the world. These are three questions I will be looking at in this paper.

However the purpose of this paper is to prove that gunpowder gave rise to the powerful

western world while it inevitably left the China and the Eastern World behind.

It is generally determined that the discoverers of gunpowder were the Chinese. As

early as in the T'ang dynasty (AD 618-906) there seem to have existed what were called

"fire trees" and "silver flowers." Chinese legend has it that some herdsmen who were

trying to keep warm saw their campfire leap and fizzle around like a torch. They soon

discovered that the fire pit was built on sulfur with a rock containing potassium

perchlorate, the ingredients of gunpowder. This soon became a common mixture to make

fire. To transport the mixture with so much firepower, the herdsman used a hollow

bamboo stick with mud at both ends. The stick, accidentally fell into a fire and exploded

with a bang. Thus the "fire trees" and "silver

themselves, despite knowing of cannons existing over the past several centuries, have

kings to keep in check, and the central authority was weak. Gunpowder was able to

enough to crystallize. It was then poured into shallow pans which, as the liquid evaporated

Only a few decades after this time, the Mongols completed their conquest of the

were good enough to support making saltpetre so the saltpetre, now so such a necessity

Approximate Word count = 1762
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History

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