Paper was developed in China, and fragments found in tombs and sites in the north-west of the country show that it was already being made in the second century BCE, from fibres of hemp and rags. Its invention is traditionally credited to Cai Lun, an official at the Han court, who in 105 CE presented an improved method using tree bark, rags and fishing nets, but archaeology shows that he refined an existing technique. Paper gradually replaced silk and bamboo strips as a cheaper writing material. The knowledge reached the Islamic world in the eighth century, and paper mills operated in Baghdad and Samarkand. From there it passed to Europe through Spain, with mills established by the twelfth century. Cheap paper then made the printing revolution of the fifteenth century possible.
Before and after
- from 149 BCE to 146 BCESiege of Carthage
- 147 BCERome destroys Carthage
- from 146 BCE to 330 CERoman Greece
- 145 BCEBirth of Sima Qian
- 141 BCEPaper
- 2nd century BCEVenus de Milo
- 139 BCEZhang Qian's mission opens the Silk Road
- 134 BCETiberius Gracchus is murdered and the Republic enters its crisis
- c. 131 BCEHipparchus discovers the precession of the equinoxes
More in Science & technology
- 370 BCEDeath of Hippocrates
- 190 BCEBirth of Hipparchus
- 105 CECai Lun reports the invention of paper
- c. 150sPtolemy writes the Almagest
- 170 CEDeath of Ptolemy
- 476 CEBirth of Aryabhata
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 2nd century BCE.