Camilla Taylor
December 14, 2015
Global Studies
Mid-Term Final
Gunpowder
Gunpowder was invented by Chinese alchemists who were in search of a new medicine to help improve their lifestyle. The first mention of gunpowder was written by a man named Wei Boyang, in 142 AD during the Han Dynasty. He wrote about the substance as if it was a myth that was a mixture of 3 powders that would "fly and dance" violently in the air (almost like a firework).
The process to make the powder happens to be a rarely simple task. To start, these substances are all ground together. The recipe is: 15 parts saltpeter, 3 parts charcoal, and 2 parts sulfur. They found the use of sulfur by mining it out of the ground because it happens to exist in yellow limestone. Potassium Nitrate, or saltpeter, was made by letting animal manicure decay and then using the Potassium Nitrate crystals that grew from the substance. The charcoal was used easily due to that it was common and its massive amount that was available.
Originally people made use of it in a medical way. They created large mixtures of sulfur and saltpeter which resulted in fatal medicinal conditions. First, people discovered that when burnt the mixture would create a purple flame, which was not common given the time being. The mixtures began to be a hazard to people. Some cases resulted in the loss of homes and skin being very badly burnt, due to mistaking the substance for a type of herbal fragrance or tea.
The start of using Gunpowder was in 904 AD, during the T'ang Dynasty. They mainly used it for firework displays to entertain the civilization. They began to realize the idea that the substance was supposed to be used as a source of weaponry, but they used the it to help build weaponry as opposed to helping use it. It as used for the construction of bombs, flame throwers, rockets, and land mines. The first real use if gunpowder involving weapon dr was the use of rockets for attack purposes because of their similarity to fireworks.
This new discovery, led to a whole new change in society. The Chinese emperors attempted to keep the invention a secret, for their advantage, but soon the Roman and Islamic Empires learned of the secret and began to learn of the use o these powerful weapons. Not to long after, the European Empire leaned of gunpowder and quickly used the information to their advantage. In 1400's AD the European Empire attacked West Africa, who didn't have the knowledge of gunpowder at the time, and defeated them due to their lack of defense.