Editing Gunpowder (section)

=== 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}}