Saturday, September 20, 2014

Gunpowder

 A gun wouldn't be a gun without that little explosive thing called gunpowder, formerly known as black powder.75 parts saltpeter with 15 parts charcoal and 10 parts sulfur was the original recipe found by the Chinese around AD. 850 (silk-road.com). This was used on the field of combat by the Chinese with minimal success and generally in crude form like simple grenades, land mines, etc. until the recipe was transferred over the Great Silk Road. The Muslims began to use it around AD. 1200. They accordingly invented cannons and the like and used them with some success. The Europeans also began to adopt gunpowder around this time. Most of these used cannons; some of these hand cannons, fore-runner to the modern gun. By AD 1350 weapons that used gunpowder were common in Europe.

No comments:

Post a Comment