Taoist alchemists in Tang China, seeking an elixir of immortality, found that mixing saltpetre, sulphur and charcoal produced a powder that burned violently. A text of about 850 warns of the dangers of heating these substances together. By the Song dynasty, around 1044, the military compendium Wujing Zongyao gave formulas for gunpowder weapons, such as fire arrows, bombs and flamethrowers, and in the thirteenth century came the first guns. The Mongols and Arab traders carried gunpowder west. In Europe it was used in cannon from the early 1300s, and it changed warfare, bringing down castle walls and the knightly class.
Before and after
- 850 CEOrigins of Chan Chan
- 850 CEConstruction of Prambanan Temple
- 850 CEDeath of Muḥammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
- from c. 850s to 950sThe Classic Maya collapse
- c. 850sGunpowder is invented in China
- 859 CEFounding of University of al-Qarawiyyin
- 860 CEConstruction of Alamut Castle
- from 861 CE to 1003Saffarid dynasty
- from 862 CE to 1598Rurikids
More in Science & technology
- 721 CEBirth of Jabir ibn Hayyan
- 866 CEBirth of Abu Bakr al-Razi
- 965 CEBirth of Ibn al-Haytham
- 1098Birth of Hildegard of Bingen
- 1270Glasses
- 13th centuryDiscovery of arsenic
The era
This moment belongs to the Medieval world (500 CE to 1500 CE), kingdoms, faiths and trade routes. You can also browse everything in the 9th century.