Editing Gunpowder (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of gunpowder}}
{{For timeline|Timeline of the gunpowder age}}
{{Further|History of the firearm}}
[[File:Chinese Gunpowder Formula.JPG|thumb|Earliest known written formula for gunpowder, from the ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'' of 1044 AD.]]
[[File:てつはう（震天雷）.JPG|thumb|Stoneware bombs, known in Japanese as ''Tetsuhau'' (iron bomb), or in Chinese as ''Zhentianlei'' ([[thunder crash bomb]]), excavated from the Takashima shipwreck, October 2011, dated to the [[Mongol invasions of Japan]] (1274–1281 AD).]]

=== China ===
{{Further|Wujing Zongyao|Four Great Inventions|List of Chinese inventions|Heilongjiang hand cannon}}
[[File:Ming Dynasty eruptor proto-cannon.jpg|thumb|A 'flying-cloud thunderclap-eruptor' firing thunderclap bombs from the ''[[Huolongjing]]'']]

The first confirmed reference to what can be considered gunpowder in China occurred in the 9th century during the [[Tang dynasty]], first in a formula contained in the ''Taishang Shengzu Jindan Mijue'' ({{CJKV|c=太上聖祖金丹秘訣}}) in 808, and then about 50 years later in a [[Daoist text]] known as the ''[[Zhenyuan Miaodao Yaolue|Zhenyuan miaodao yaolüe]]'' ({{lang|zh|真元妙道要略}}).{{sfn|Lorge|2008|p=32}} The ''Taishang Shengzu Jindan Mijue'' mentions a formula composed of six parts sulfur to six parts saltpeter to one part birthwort herb.{{sfn|Lorge|2008|p=32}} According to the ''Zhenyuan miaodao yaolüe'', "Some have heated together sulfur, [[realgar]] and saltpeter with [[honey]]; smoke and flames result, so that their hands and faces have been burnt, and even the whole house where they were working burned down."{{sfn|Kelly|2004|p=4}} Based on these Taoist texts, the invention of gunpowder by Chinese alchemists was likely an accidental byproduct from experiments seeking to create the [[elixir of life]].{{sfnm|Chase|2003|1pp=31–32|Andrade|2016|2p=30}} This [[experimental medicine]] origin is reflected in its Chinese name ''huoyao'' ({{lang-zh|c=火药/火藥 |p=huǒ yào}}{{IPA|/xuo jɑʊ/}}), which means "fire medicine".{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=30}} [[Saltpeter]] was known to the Chinese by the mid-1st century AD and was primarily produced in the provinces of [[Sichuan]], [[Shanxi]], and [[Shandong]].{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=103}} There is strong evidence of the use of saltpeter and sulfur in various [[medicine|medicinal]] combinations.{{sfn|Buchanan|2006}} A Chinese alchemical text dated 492 noted saltpeter burnt with a purple flame, providing a practical and reliable means of distinguishing it from other inorganic salts, thus enabling alchemists to evaluate and compare purification techniques; the earliest Latin accounts of saltpeter purification are dated after 1200.{{sfn|Chase|2003|pp=31–32}}

The earliest chemical formula for gunpowder appeared in the 11th century [[Song dynasty]] text, ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'' (''Complete Essentials from the Military Classics''), written by [[Zeng Gongliang]] between 1040 and 1044.{{sfn|Chase|2003|p=31}} The ''Wujing Zongyao'' provides encyclopedia references to a variety of mixtures that included petrochemicals—as well as garlic and honey. A slow match for flame-throwing mechanisms using the siphon principle and for fireworks and rockets is mentioned. The mixture formulas in this book contain at most 50% {{nowrap|saltpeter{{tsp}}{{mdash}}{{tsp}}}}not enough to create an explosion, they produce an [[Incendiary device|incendiary]] instead.{{sfn|Chase|2003|p=31}} The ''Essentials'' was written by a [[Science and technology of the Song dynasty|Song dynasty]] court bureaucrat and there is little evidence that it had any immediate impact on warfare; there is no mention of its use in the chronicles of the wars against the [[Tangut people|Tanguts]] in the 11th century, and China was otherwise mostly at peace during this century. However, it had already been used for [[fire arrows]] since at least the 10th century. Its first recorded military application dates its use to 904 in the form of incendiary projectiles.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=31}} In the following centuries various gunpowder weapons such as [[bomb]]s, [[fire lances]], and the [[gun]] appeared in China.{{sfn|Buchanan|2006|p=2}}{{sfn|Chase|2003|p=1}} Explosive weapons such as bombs have been discovered in a shipwreck off the shore of Japan dated from 1281, during the Mongol invasions of Japan.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Delgado |first=James |title=Relics of the Kamikaze |url=http://archive.archaeology.org/0301/etc/kamikaze.html |journal=Archaeology |date=February 2003 |volume=56 |issue=1}}</ref>

By 1083 the Song court was producing hundreds of thousands of fire arrows for their garrisons.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=32}} Bombs and the first proto-guns, known as "fire lances", became prominent during the 12th century and were used by the Song during the [[Jin-Song Wars]]. Fire lances were first recorded to have been used at the [[Siege of De'an]] in 1132 by Song forces against the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin]].{{sfn|Lorge|2008|pp=33–34}} In the early 13th century the Jin used iron-casing bombs.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=42}} Projectiles were added to fire lances, and re-usable fire lance barrels were developed, first out of hardened paper, and then metal. By 1257 some fire lances were firing wads of bullets.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=51}}{{sfn|Partington|1960|p=246}} In the late 13th century metal fire lances became 'eruptors', proto-cannons firing co-viative projectiles (mixed with the propellant, rather than seated over it with a wad), and by 1287 at the latest, had become true guns, the [[hand cannon]].{{sfn|Needham|1986|pp=293–94}}

=== Middle East ===
{{Main|List of inventions in the medieval Islamic world|Alchemy in the medieval Islamic world}}

According to Iqtidar Alam Khan, the [[Mongols]] introduced gunpowder in their [[Mongol invasion of Persia and Mesopotamia|invasion of Persia and Mesopotamia]].{{sfn|Khan|1996}} The [[Muslim]]s acquired knowledge of gunpowder sometime between 1240 and 1280, by which point the Syrian [[Hasan al-Rammah]] had written recipes, instructions for the purification of saltpeter, and descriptions of gunpowder incendiaries. It is implied by al-Rammah's usage of "terms that suggested he derived his knowledge from Chinese sources" and his references to saltpeter as "Chinese snow" ({{langx|ar|ثلج الصين}} ''{{transliteration|ar|DIN|thalj al-ṣīn}}''), fireworks as "Chinese flowers", and rockets as "Chinese arrows", that knowledge of gunpowder arrived from China.{{sfn|Kelly|2004|p=22}} However, because al-Rammah attributes his material to "his father and forefathers", [[Ahmad Y. al-Hassan]] argues that gunpowder became prevalent in Syria and Egypt by "the end of the twelfth century or the beginning of the thirteenth".<ref name="AhmedY" /> In Persia saltpeter was known as "Chinese salt" ({{langx|fa|نمک چینی}|namak-i chīnī}}){{sfn|Watson|2006|p=304}}{{sfn|Nolan|2006|p=365}} or "salt from Chinese salt marshes" ({{lang|fa|نمک شوره چینی}} ''{{transliteration|fa|DIN|namak-i shūra-yi chīnī}}'').{{sfn|Partington|1960|p=335}}{{sfn|Needham|1980|p=194}}

Hasan al-Rammah included 107 gunpowder recipes in ''The Book of Military Horsemanship and Ingenious War Devices'' ({{langx|ar|الـفـروسـيـة و الـمـنـاصـب الـحـربـيـة|al-Furūsiyya wal-Manāsib al-Ḥarbiyya}}), 22 of which are for rockets. The median of 17 of these 22 compositions for rockets (75% nitrates, 9.06% sulphur, and 15.94% charcoal) are nearly identical to the modern reported ideal recipe of 75% potassium nitrate, 10% sulphur, and 15% charcoal.<ref name=AhmedY /> The text also mentions fuses, incendiary bombs, naphtha pots, fire lances, and an illustration and description of the earliest [[torpedo]]. The torpedo was called the "egg which moves itself and burns".<ref name = "zaky">{{Cite journal |url=https://gladius.revistas.csic.es/index.php/gladius/article/view/186/188 |last=Zaky |first=A. Rahman |title=Gunpowder and Arab Firearms in Middle Ages |journal=Gladius |volume=VI |date=1967 |pages=45–58 |doi=10.3989/GLADIUS.1967.186}}</ref> Two iron sheets were fastened together and tightened using felt. The flattened, pear-shaped vessel was filled with gunpowder, metal filings, "good mixtures", two rods, and a large rocket for propulsion. Judging by the illustration, it was supposed to glide across the water.<ref name = "zaky"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=[[Ahmad Y. al-Hassan]]|title=Chemical Technology in Arabic Military Treatises |journal=Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences|volume=500|issue=1|year=1987 |pages=153–66 [160]|doi=10.1111/j.1749-6632.1987.tb37200.x |bibcode=1987NYASA.500..153A|s2cid=84287076}}</ref>{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=259}} Fire lances were used in battles between the Muslims and Mongols in 1299 and 1303.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=45}}

Al-Hassan claims that in the [[Battle of Ain Jalut]] of 1260, the [[Mamluk Sultanate]] used "the first cannon in history" against the Mongols, utilizing a formula with near-identical ideal composition ratios for explosive gunpowder.<ref name="AhmedY">{{cite web |url=http://www.history-science-technology.com/articles/articles%2072.html |title=Transfer of Islamic Technology to the West: Part III |last=Hassan |first=Ahmad Y. al|author-link=Ahmad Y. al-Hassan|work=History of Science and Technology in Islam}}</ref> Other historians urge caution regarding claims of Islamic firearms use in the 1204–1324 period, as late medieval Arabic texts used the same word for gunpowder, ''naft'', that they used for an earlier incendiary, [[naphtha]].{{sfn|Ágoston|2008}}{{sfn|Purton|2010}}

The earliest surviving documentary evidence for cannons in the Islamic world is from an Arabic manuscript dated to the early 14th century.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ancient Discoveries, Episode 12: Machines of the East|publisher=[[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]]|year=2007|title-link=Ancient Discoveries}} ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwGfw1YW9Js Part 4] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416165152/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwGfw1YW9Js |date=16 April 2012 }} and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R3ZbzhRp_k Part 5] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228005716/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R3ZbzhRp_k |date=28 December 2019 }})</ref><ref>{{cite web |work=History of Science and Technology in Islam |last=Hassan |first=Ahmad Y. al|author-link=Ahmad Y. al-Hassan |url=http://www.history-science-technology.com/Articles/articles%202.htm |title=Gunpowder Composition for Rockets and Cannon in Arabic Military Treatises in Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries |access-date=8 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-11-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120002616/http://www.history-science-technology.com/Articles/articles%202.htm}}</ref> The author's name is uncertain but may have been Shams al-Din Muhammad, who died in 1350.<ref name = "zaky"/> Dating from around 1320–1350, the illustrations show gunpowder weapons such as gunpowder arrows, bombs, fire tubes, and fire lances or proto-guns.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=259}} The manuscript describes a type of gunpowder weapon called a ''midfa'' which uses gunpowder to shoot projectiles out of a tube at the end of a stock.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=43}} Some consider this a cannon, while others do not. The problem with identifying cannons in early 14th-century Arabic texts is the term ''midfa'', which appears from 1342 to 1352 but cannot be proven to be true hand-guns or bombards. Contemporary accounts of a metal-barrel cannon in the Islamic world do not occur until 1365.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=44}} Needham believes that in its original form the term ''midfa'' refers to the tube or cylinder of a [[naphtha]] projector ([[flamethrower]]). After the invention of gunpowder, it meant the tube of fire lances, and eventually it applied to the cylinder of hand-guns and cannons.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=582}}

According to Paul E. J. Hammer, the [[Mamluk Sultanate]] certainly used cannons by 1342.<ref name="Hammer2017">{{cite book |last1=Hammer |first1=Paul E. J. |title=Warfare in Early Modern Europe 1450–1660 |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1351873765 |page=505 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ugkkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT505}}</ref> According to J. Lavin, cannons were used by [[Moors]] at the siege of [[Algeciras]] in 1343. Shihab al-Din Abu al-Abbas al-Qalqashandi described a metal cannon firing an iron ball between 1365 and 1376.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=44}}

The [[musket]] appeared in the [[Ottoman Empire]] by 1465.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ayalon |first1=David |title=Gunpowder and Firearms in the Mamluk Kingdom: A Challenge to Medieval Society (1956) |date=2013 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-136-27732-0 |page=126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WmpySZZNJhcC&pg=PT126}}</ref> In 1598, Chinese writer Zhao Shizhen described Turkish muskets as being superior to European muskets.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=444}} The Chinese military work ''[[Wubei Zhi]]'' (1621) later described Turkish muskets that used a [[rack and pinion]] mechanism, which was not known to have been used in European or Chinese firearms at the time.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=446}}

The state-controlled manufacture of gunpowder by the Ottoman Empire through early [[supply chain]]s to obtain nitre, sulphur and high-quality charcoal from oaks in [[Anatolia]] contributed significantly to its expansion between the 15th and 18th centuries. It was not until later in the 19th century that the systemic production of Turkish gunpowder was reduced considerably, coinciding with the decline of its military might.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Nelson |first=Cameron Rubaloff |date=2010 |url=http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm/ref/collection/etd2/id/1276 |title=Manufacture and transportation of gunpowder in the Ottoman Empire: 1400–1800 |type=M.A. |publisher=University of Utah}}</ref>

=== Europe ===
[[File:EarlyCannonDeNobilitatibusSapientiiEtPrudentiisRegumManuscriptWalterdeMilemete1326.jpg|thumb|Earliest depiction of a European cannon, "De Nobilitatibus Sapientii Et Prudentiis Regum", [[Walter de Milemete]], 1326.]]
[[File:De la pirotechnia 1540 Title Page AQ1 (1).jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|''De la pirotechnia'', 1540]]

The earliest Western accounts of gunpowder appear in texts written by English philosopher [[Roger Bacon]] in 1267 called {{lang|la|[[Opus Majus]]}} and ''Opus Tertium''.{{sfn|Needham|1986}} The oldest written recipes in continental Europe were recorded under the name Marcus Graecus or Mark the Greek between 1280 and 1300 in the ''[[Liber Ignium]]'', or ''Book of Fires''.{{sfn|Kelly|2004|p=23}}

Some sources mention possible gunpowder weapons being deployed by the Mongols against European forces at the [[Battle of Mohi]] in 1241.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_RsPrzrsAvoC&pg=PA492 |title=The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community|first=William H. |last=McNeill|year=1992|publisher=University of Chicago Press|page=492|isbn=978-0-226-56141-7|access-date=29 July 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-UnWOmL1a48C&pg=PA28 |title=Dateline Mongolia: An American Journalist in Nomad's Land|first=Michael |last=Kohn|year=2006|publisher=RDR Books|page=28|isbn=978-1-57143-155-4|access-date=29 July 2011}}</ref>{{sfn|Cowley|1993|p=86}} Professor Kenneth Warren Chase credits the Mongols for introducing into Europe gunpowder and its associated weaponry.{{sfn|Chase|2003}} However, there is no clear route of transmission,{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=76}} and while the Mongols are often pointed to as the likeliest vector, Timothy May points out that "there is no concrete evidence that the Mongols used gunpowder weapons on a regular basis outside of China."<ref name="Timothy May">{{citation |url=https://networks.h-net.org/node/12840/reviews/13288/may-khan-gunpowder-and-firearms-warfare-medieval-india |title=May on Khan, 'Gunpowder and Firearms: Warfare in Medieval India' |publisher=Humanities and Social Sciences Online |last=May |first=Timothy |date=2006 |access-date=16 October 2016}}</ref> May also states, "however [, ...] the Mongols used the gunpowder weapon in their wars against the Jin, the Song and in their invasions of Japan."<ref name="Timothy May"/>

Records show that, in England, gunpowder was being made in 1346 at the [[Tower of London]]; a [[powder house]] existed at the Tower in 1461, and in 1515 three King's gunpowder makers worked there.{{sfn|Cocroft|2000}} Gunpowder was also being made or stored at other royal castles, such as [[Portchester Castle|Portchester]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Ross |first=Charles |title=The Custom of the Castle: From Malory to Macbeth |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |date=1997 |pages=[http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft3r29n8qn/ 130–31]}}</ref> The [[English Civil War]] (1642–1645) led to an expansion of the gunpowder industry, with the repeal of the Royal Patent in August 1641.{{sfn|Cocroft|2000}}

In late 14th century Europe, gunpowder was improved by ''corning'', the practice of drying it into small clumps to improve combustion and consistency.{{sfn|Kelly|2004|p=61}} During this time, European manufacturers also began regularly purifying saltpeter, using wood ashes containing [[potassium carbonate]] to precipitate calcium from their dung liquor, and using ox blood, [[alum]], and slices of [[turnip]] to clarify the solution.{{sfn|Kelly|2004|p=61}}

During the Renaissance, two European schools of [[pyrotechnics|pyrotechnic]] thought emerged, one in Italy and the other at Nuremberg, Germany.<ref name=Asher>{{cite web|title=Early printing, 15th and 16th century|url=http://www.forumrarebooks.com/application/upload/forum/files/pdf/2014/Early_Printing.pdf|website=Asher Rare Books|access-date=4 May 2015|archive-date=5 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150505040541/http://www.forumrarebooks.com/application/upload/forum/files/pdf/2014/Early_Printing.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> In Italy, [[Vannoccio Biringuccio]], born in 1480, was a member of the guild ''Fraternita di Santa Barbara'' but broke with the tradition of secrecy by setting down everything he knew in a book titled ''[[De la pirotechnia]]'', written in vernacular.  It was published posthumously in 1540, with 9 editions over 138 years, and also reprinted by [[MIT Press]] in 1966.{{sfn|Kelly|2004|p=61}}

By the mid-17th century fireworks were used for entertainment on an unprecedented scale in Europe, being popular even at resorts and public gardens.<ref name=Encarta>{{cite web |title=Fireworks |publisher=Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia |date=2007 |url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576898_2/Fireworks.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091021024258/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576898_2/Fireworks.html |archive-date=21 October 2009}}</ref> With the publication of ''Deutliche Anweisung zur Feuerwerkerey'' (1748), methods for creating fireworks were sufficiently well-known and well-described that "Firework making has become an exact science."<ref name=Philip>{{cite book|last1=Philip|first1=Chris|title=A bibliography of firework books: works on recreative fireworks from the sixteenth to the twentieth century|date=1988|publisher=American Fireworks News|location=Dingmans Ferry, PA|isbn=978-0-929931-00-5}}</ref> In 1774 [[Louis XVI]] ascended to the throne of France at age 20.  After he discovered that France was not self-sufficient in gunpowder, a Gunpowder Administration was established; to head it, the lawyer [[Antoine Lavoisier]] was appointed. Although from a bourgeois family, after his degree in law Lavoisier became wealthy from a company set up to collect taxes for the Crown; this allowed him to pursue experimental natural science as a hobby.<ref>In 1777 Lavoisier named ''oxygen'', which had earlier been isolated by [[Joseph Priestley|Priestley]]; the realization that saltpeter contained this substance was fundamental to understanding gunpowder.</ref>

Without access to cheap saltpeter (controlled by the British), for hundreds of years France had relied on saltpetremen with royal warrants, the ''droit de fouille'' or "right to dig", to seize nitrous-containing soil and demolish walls of barnyards, without compensation to the owners.{{sfn|Kelly|2004|p=164}} This caused farmers, the wealthy, or entire villages to bribe the petermen and the associated bureaucracy to leave their buildings alone and the saltpeter uncollected.  Lavoisier instituted a crash program to increase saltpeter production, revised (and later eliminated) the ''droit de fouille'', researched best refining and powder manufacturing methods, instituted management and record-keeping, and established pricing that encouraged private investment in works.  Although saltpeter from new Prussian-style putrefaction works had not been produced yet (the process taking about 18 months), in only a year France had gunpowder to export. A chief beneficiary of this surplus was the [[American Revolution]].  By careful testing and adjusting the proportions and grinding time, powder from mills such as at [[Essonne]] outside Paris became the best in the world by 1788, and inexpensive.{{sfn|Kelly|2004|p=164}}<ref>{{citation|last=Metzner|first =Paul|year=1998|title=Crescendo of the Virtuoso: Spectacle, Skill, and Self-Promotion in Paris during the Age of Revolution|publisher=University of California Press}}</ref>

Two British physicists, [[Sir Andrew Noble, 1st Baronet|Andrew Noble]] and [[Frederick Abel]], worked to improve the properties of gunpowder during the late 19th century. This formed the basis for the Noble-Abel gas equation for [[internal ballistics]].<ref>{{cite web| url = https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA454209.pdf| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111126022022/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA454209&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf| url-status = live| archive-date = 26 November 2011| title = The Noble-Abel Equation of State: Thermodynamic Derivations for Ballistics Modelling}}</ref>

The introduction of [[smokeless powder]] in the late 19th century led to a contraction of the gunpowder industry. After the end of [[World War I]], the majority of the British gunpowder manufacturers merged into a single company, "Explosives Trades limited", and a number of sites were closed down, including those in Ireland. This company became Nobel Industries Limited, and in 1926 became a founding member of [[Imperial Chemical Industries]]. The [[Home Office]] removed gunpowder from its list of ''Permitted Explosives''. Shortly afterwards, on 31 December 1931, the former [[Curtis & Harvey]]'s [[Glynneath]] gunpowder factory at [[Pontneddfechan]] in [[Wales]] closed down. The factory was demolished by fire in 1932.<ref name = glynneath>{{Citation | last1 =Pritchard | first1 =Tom | last2 =Evans | first2 =Jack | last3 =Johnson | first3 =Sydney | year =1985 | title =The Old Gunpowder Factory at Glynneath | place =Merthyr Tydfil | publisher =Merthyr Tydfil & District Naturalists' Society}}</ref> The last remaining gunpowder mill at the [[Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills|Royal Gunpowder Factory, Waltham Abbey]] was damaged by a German [[parachute mine]] in 1941 and it never reopened.{{sfn|Cocroft|2000}} This was followed by the closure and demolition of the gunpowder section at the [[Royal Ordnance Factory]], [[ROF Chorley]], at the end of [[World War II]], and of [[Nobel Industries (Scotland)|ICI Nobel]]'s [[Roslin, Midlothian|Roslin]] gunpowder factory which closed in 1954.{{sfn|Cocroft|2000}}<ref name = macdougall>{{cite book|last1=MacDougall|first1=Ian|title='Oh, ye had to be careful' : personal recollections by Roslin gunpowder mill and bomb factory workers|date=2000|publisher=Tuckwell Press in association with the European Ethnological Research Centre and the Scottish Working People's History Trust|location=East Linton, Scotland|isbn=978-1-86232-126-7}}</ref> This left ICI Nobel's [[Ardeer, Scotland|Ardeer]] site in [[Scotland]], which included a gunpowder factory, as the only factory in Great Britain producing gunpowder. The gunpowder area of the Ardeer site closed in October 1976.{{sfn|Cocroft|2000}}

=== India ===
[[File:Rocket warfare.jpg|thumb|left|In the year 1780 the [[British East India Company|British]] began to [[Annexation|annex]] the territories of the [[Sultanate of Mysore]], during the [[Second Anglo-Mysore War]]. The British battalion was defeated during the [[Battle of Guntur]], by the forces of [[Hyder Ali]], who effectively used [[Mysorean rockets]] and [[rocket artillery]] against the closely massed British forces.]]

Gunpowder and gunpowder weapons were transmitted to India through the [[Mongol invasions of India]].<ref name="Kn">{{cite book|author=Iqtidar Alam Khan|title=Gunpowder And Firearms: Warfare in Medieval India|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-566526-0}}</ref><ref name="kn2" /> The Mongols were defeated by [[Alauddin Khalji]] of the [[Delhi Sultanate]], and some of the Mongol soldiers remained in northern India after their conversion to Islam.<ref name="kn2">{{cite book|author=Iqtidar Alam Khan|title=Historical Dictionary of Medieval India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pzZFUcDpDzsC&pg=PA157|date=25 April 2008|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-5503-8|page=157}}</ref> It was written in the ''Tarikh-i Firishta'' (1606–1607) that [[Nasiruddin Mahmud (grandson of Iltutmish)|Nasiruddin Mahmud]] the ruler of the Delhi Sultanate presented the envoy of the Mongol ruler [[Hulegu Khan]] with a dazzling pyrotechnics display upon his arrival in [[Delhi]] in 1258. Nasiruddin Mahmud tried to express his strength as a ruler and tried to ward off any [[Mongol]] attempt similar to the [[Siege of Baghdad (1258)]].{{sfn|Khan|2004|pp=9–10}} Firearms known as ''top-o-tufak'' also existed in many Muslim kingdoms in India by as early as 1366.{{sfn|Khan|2004|pp=9–10}} From then on the employment of [[gunpowder warfare]] in India was prevalent, with events such as the "Siege of [[Belgaum]]" in 1473 by [[Sultan]] Muhammad Shah Bahmani.{{sfn|Khan|2004|p=10}}

The shipwrecked Ottoman [[Admiral]] [[Seydi Ali Reis]] is known to have introduced the earliest type of [[matchlock]] weapons, which the Ottomans used against the [[Portugal|Portuguese]] during the [[Siege of Diu (1531)]]. After that, a diverse variety of firearms, large guns in particular, became visible in [[Tanjore]], [[Dacca]], [[Adil Shahi|Bijapur]], and [[Murshidabad]].{{sfn|Partington|1999|p=225}} Guns made of bronze were recovered from [[History of Kozhikode|Calicut]] (1504)- the former capital of the [[Zamorin]]s{{sfn|Partington|1999|p=226}}

[[File:Meister der Shâh-Jahân-Nâma-Memoiren 001.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Mughal Emperor]] [[Shah Jahan]], hunting deer using a [[matchlock]]]]
The Mughal emperor [[Akbar]] mass-produced matchlocks for the [[Mughal Army]]. Akbar is personally known to have shot a leading [[Rajput]] commander during the [[Siege of Chittorgarh (1567–1568)|Siege of Chittorgarh]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTfEDaWMj4o| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/DTfEDaWMj4o| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|title=Mughal Matchlock|work=YouTube| date=7 July 2008}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The [[Mughal Empire|Mughals]] began to use [[bamboo]] rockets (mainly for signalling) and employ [[sapper]]s: special units that undermined heavy stone fortifications to plant gunpowder charges.

The Mughal Emperor [[Shah Jahan]] is known to have introduced much more advanced matchlocks, their designs were a combination of Ottoman and Mughal designs. Shah Jahan also countered the [[British Empire|British]] and other [[Europeans]] in his province of [[Gujarāt]], which supplied Europe saltpeter for use in gunpowder warfare during the 17th century.<ref name=IndiaBritannica>"India."  Encyclopædia Britannica 2008 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008.</ref> [[Bengal]] and [[Malwa|Mālwa]] participated in saltpeter production.<ref name=IndiaBritannica /> The Dutch, French, Portuguese, and English used [[Chhapra]] as a center of saltpeter refining.<ref name=IndiaBritannica />

Ever since the founding of the [[Sultanate of Mysore]] by [[Hyder Ali]], [[France|French]] military officers were employed to train the Mysore Army. Hyder Ali and his son [[Tipu Sultan]] were the first to introduce modern cannons and [[musket]]s, their army was also the first in India to have official uniforms. During the [[Second Anglo-Mysore War]] Hyder Ali and his son [[Tipu Sultan]] unleashed the Mysorean rockets at their British opponents effectively defeating them on various occasions. The Mysorean rockets inspired the development of the [[Congreve rocket]], which the British widely used during the [[Napoleonic Wars]] and the [[War of 1812]].<ref name="r&ms">"rocket and missile system."  Encyclopædia Britannica 2008 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008.</ref>

=== Southeast Asia ===
[[File:Madrid_canons_indiens.png|thumb|left|A double barrelled cetbang on a carriage, with swivel yoke, ca. 1522. The mouth of the cannon is in the shape of [[Nāga#Indonesia|Javanese Nāga]].]]

Cannons were introduced to Majapahit when [[Kublai Khan|Kublai Khan's]] Chinese army under the leadership of Ike Mese [[Mongol invasion of Java|sought to invade Java]] in 1293. [[History of Yuan]] mentioned that the Mongol used cannons (Chinese: [[Hu dun pao|炮—''Pào'']]) against Daha forces.<ref name="Schlegel">Schlegel, Gustaaf (1902). "On the Invention and Use of Fire-Arms and Gunpowder in China, Prior to the Arrival of European". ''T'oung Pao''. 3: 1–11.</ref>{{Rp|1–2}}<ref>Lombard, Denys (1990). ''Le carrefour javanais. Essai d'histoire globale (The Javanese Crossroads: Towards a Global History) Vol. 2''. Paris: Editions de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. Page 178.</ref><ref name="Reid-1993">Reid, Anthony (1993). ''Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680. Volume Two: Expansion and Crisis''. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.</ref>{{Rp|220}} Cannons were used by the [[Ayutthaya Kingdom]] in 1352 during its invasion of the [[Khmer Empire]].{{sfn|Purton|2010|p=201}} Within a decade large quantities of gunpowder could be found in the [[Khmer Empire]].{{sfn|Purton|2010|p=201}} By the end of the century firearms were also used by the [[Trần dynasty]].{{sfn|Tran|2006|p=75}}

Even though the knowledge of making gunpowder-based weapons was known after the failed Mongol invasion of Java, and the predecessor of firearms, the [[Hand cannon|pole gun]] ([[bedil tombak]]), is recorded as being used by Java in 1413,<ref>Mayers (1876). "Chinese explorations of the Indian Ocean during the fifteenth century". ''The China Review''. '''IV''': p. 178.</ref><ref name="Manguin-1976">{{Cite journal|last=Manguin|first=Pierre-Yves|date=1976|title=L'Artillerie legere nousantarienne: A propos de six canons conserves dans des collections portugaises|url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02509117/file/arasi_0004-3958_1976_num_32_1_1103.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506085032/https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02509117/file/arasi_0004-3958_1976_num_32_1_1103.pdf |archive-date=2020-05-06 |url-status=live|journal=Arts Asiatiques|volume=32|pages=233–268|doi=10.3406/arasi.1976.1103|s2cid=191565174 }}</ref>{{Rp|245}} the knowledge of making "true" firearms came much later, after the middle of the 15th century. It was brought by the [[Islam]]ic nations of West Asia, most probably the [[Arabs]]. The precise year of introduction is unknown, but it may be safely concluded to be no earlier than 1460.<ref name="Crawfurd-1856">{{Cite book|last=Crawfurd|first=John|title=A Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands and Adjacent Countries|url=https://archive.org/details/adescriptivedic00crawgoog|publisher=Bradbury and Evans|year=1856}}</ref>{{Rp|23}} Before the arrival of the Portuguese in Southeast Asia, the natives already possessed primitive firearms, the [[Java arquebus]].<ref name="Tiaoyuan-1969">{{Cite book|last=Tiaoyuan|first=Li|title=South Vietnamese Notes|publisher=Guangju Book Office|year=1969}}</ref> Portuguese influence to local weaponry after the [[capture of Malacca (1511)]] resulted in a new type of hybrid tradition matchlock firearm, the [[istinggar]].<ref name="Andaya-1999">Andaya, L. Y. 1999. Interaction with the outside world and adaptation in Southeast Asian society 1500–1800. In ''The Cambridge history of southeast Asia''. ed. Nicholas Tarling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 345–401.</ref><ref name="Hasbullah-2013">{{Cite journal |last=Hasbullah |first=Wan Mohd Dasuki Wan |date=September 2013 |title=Teknologi Istinggar Beberapa Ciri Fizikal dalam Aplikasi Teknikalnya |journal=International Journal of the Malay World and Civilisation |volume=1 |pages=51–59}}</ref>{{Rp|53}}

When the [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] came to the archipelago, they referred to the breech-loading swivel gun as ''berço'', while the [[Spaniards]] call it ''verso''.<ref name="Wade-2012">{{Cite book|last=Wade|first=Geoff|title=Anthony Reid and the Study of the Southeast Asian Past|publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies|year=2012|location=Singapore|isbn=978-981-4311-96-0}}</ref>{{Rp|151}} By the early 16th century, the Javanese already locally producing large guns, some of them still survived until the present day and dubbed as "sacred cannon" or "holy cannon". These cannons varied between 180- and 260-pounders, weighing anywhere between 3 and 8 tons, length of them between 3 and 6&nbsp;m.<ref>''Modern Asian Studies''. Vol. 22, No. 3, Special Issue: Asian Studies in Honour of Professor Charles Boxer (1988), pp. 607–628 (22 pages).</ref>

Saltpeter harvesting was recorded by Dutch and German travelers as being common in even the smallest villages and was collected from the decomposition process of large dung hills specifically piled for the purpose. The Dutch punishment for possession of non-permitted gunpowder appears to have been amputation.<ref name="Raffles-2010">{{cite book |last1=Raffles |first1=Thomas Stamford |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofjavavol0000raff/page/180/mode/2up?q=powder |title=A History of Java Volume 1 |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-19-580347-1 |edition=[Repr.]. |location=Cambridge |orig-date=1817}}</ref>{{Rp|180–181}} Ownership and manufacture of gunpowder was later prohibited by the colonial [[Netherlands|Dutch]] occupiers.<ref name="Dipanegara, P. B. R 19812">Dipanegara, P.B.R. Carey, ''Babad Dipanagara: an account of the outbreak of the Java war, 1825–30 : the Surakarta court version of the Babad Dipanagara with translations into English and Indonesian'' volume 9: Council of the M.B.R.A.S. by Art Printing Works: 1981.</ref> According to colonel McKenzie quoted in Sir [[Thomas Stamford Raffles]]', ''[[The History of Java (1817 book)|The History of Java]]'' (1817), the purest sulfur was supplied from [[Ijen|a crater from a mountain]] near the straits of [[Bali]].<ref name="Raffles-2010" />{{Rp|180–181}}

=== Historiography ===
{{main|Historiography of gunpowder and gun transmission}}
[[File:Pháo thủ.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Gunner of [[Nguyễn dynasty]], [[Vietnam]]]]

On the origins of gunpowder technology, historian [[Tonio Andrade]] remarked, "Scholars today overwhelmingly concur that the gun was invented in China."{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=75}} Gunpowder and the gun are widely believed by historians to have originated from China due to the large body of evidence that documents the evolution of gunpowder from a medicine to an incendiary and explosive, and the evolution of the gun from the [[fire lance]] to a metal gun, whereas similar records do not exist elsewhere.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|pp=75–76}} As Andrade explains, the large amount of variation in gunpowder recipes in China relative to Europe is "evidence of experimentation in China, where gunpowder was at first used as an incendiary and only later became an explosive and a propellant... in contrast, formulas in Europe diverged only very slightly from the ideal proportions for use as an explosive and a propellant, suggesting that gunpowder was introduced as a mature technology."{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=76}}

However, the history of gunpowder is not without controversy. A major problem confronting the study of early gunpowder history is ready access to sources close to the events described. Often the first records potentially describing use of gunpowder in warfare were written several centuries after the fact, and may well have been colored by the contemporary experiences of the chronicler.{{sfn|Ágoston|2008|p=15}} Translation difficulties have led to errors or loose interpretations bordering on [[artistic licence]]. Ambiguous language can make it difficult to distinguish gunpowder weapons from similar technologies that do not rely on gunpowder. A commonly cited example is a report of the [[Battle of Mohi]] in Eastern Europe that mentions a "long lance" sending forth "evil-smelling vapors and smoke", which has been variously interpreted by different historians as the "first-gas attack upon European soil" using gunpowder, "the first use of cannon in Europe", or merely a "toxic gas" with no evidence of gunpowder.{{sfnm|Partington|1999|1p=198|Saunders|1971|2p=198}} It is difficult to accurately translate original Chinese alchemical texts, which tend to explain phenomena through metaphor, into modern scientific language with rigidly defined terminology in English.{{Sfn|Kelly|2004|p=22}} Early texts potentially mentioning gunpowder are sometimes marked by a linguistic process where [[semantic change]] occurred.{{sfn|Partington|1999|pp=xvi–xvii}} For instance, the Arabic word ''naft'' transitioned from denoting [[naphtha]] to denoting gunpowder, and the Chinese word ''pào'' changed in meaning from [[trebuchet]] to a [[cannon]].{{sfn|Purton|2010|pp=108–09}} This has led to arguments on the exact origins of gunpowder based on etymological foundations. Science and technology historian Bert S. Hall makes the observation that, "It goes without saying, however, that historians bent on special pleading, or simply with axes of their own to grind, can find rich material in these terminological thickets."{{sfn|Partington|1999|pp=xvi–xvii}}

Another major area of contention in modern studies of the history of gunpowder is regarding the transmission of gunpowder. While the literary and archaeological evidence supports a Chinese origin for gunpowder and guns, the manner in which gunpowder technology was transferred from China to the West is still under debate.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=75}} It is unknown why the rapid spread of gunpowder technology across Eurasia took place over several decades whereas other technologies such as paper, the compass, and printing did not reach Europe until centuries after they were invented in China.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=76}}