It could easily be argued that one of the most important inventions or discoveries in history has been gunpowder. And there are many things that can be argued aboutgunpowder itself. Such as where was it originated, when was it originated, and how did itspread across the world. These are three questions I will be looking at in this paper.However the purpose of this paper is to prove that gunpowder gave rise to the powerfulwestern world while it inevitably left the China and the Eastern World behind.It is generally determined that the discoverers of gunpowder were the Chinese. Asearly as in the T'ang dynasty (AD 618-906) there seem to have existed what were called"fire trees" and "silver flowers." Chinese legend has it that some herdsmen who weretrying to keep warm saw their campfire leap and fizzle around like a torch. They soondiscovered that the fire pit was built on sulfur with a rock containing potassiumperchlorate, the ingredients of gunpowder. This soon became a common mixture to makefire. To transport the mixture with so much firepower, the herdsman used a hollowbamboo stick with mud at both ends. The stick, accidentally fell into a fire and explodedwith a bang. Thus the fire trees and silver flowers were born.Later on in the year 1161, when the Chinese were suffering invasion from the ChinTatars from the north some historical documents state that they successfully usedexplosives to defeat their attackers. This seems to be definite proof of a knowledge ofgunpowder among the Chinese at this period. However there has been considerableargument as to whether these references to explosives indicate that the Chinese knewabout the use of a cannon and also if the explosives were in fact gunpowder. Chineserecords state that when the Mongols laid siege to the North China city of Kaifeng in 1232,the people within the city terrified the Mongols with "heaven quaking thunder". Theinstrument they used is described as an iron tube or vessel th...
