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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Super car: [QB] Chinese Invention of Gun powder isn't as clear cut and absolute as some believe. I posted earlier: Interesting roots of what became the tool of European imperialism... [b]Gunpowder:[/b] The Chinese knew gunpowder in the 11th century, but didn’t know the right proportions of getting explosions and didn’t achieve the necessary purification of potassium nitrate. The first Chinese book, which details the explosives proportion, was in 1412 by Huo Lung Ching. [1] Al-Rammah’s book is the first to explain the purification procedure for potassium nitrate and described many recipes for making gunpowder with the correct proportions to achieve explosion. This is necessary for the development of canons. Partington [ 3] says [i][b]“the collection of recipes was probably taken from different sources at different times in the author’s family and taken down. Such recipes are described as tested.”[/b][/i] Al-Razi, Al-Hamdany, and an Arabic-Syriaque manuscript of the 10th century describe potassium nitrate. Ibn Al-Bitar describes it in 1240. The Arab-Syriaque manuscript of the 10th century gives some recipes of gunpowder. It is assumed that these were added in the 13th century. The Latin book “Liber Ignium” of Marcus Graecus is originally Arabic (translated in Spain) gives many recipes for making gunpowder the last four of which must have been added to the book in 1280 or 1300. [i][b]“Did Roger Bacon derive his famous cryptic gunpowder in his Epistola of ca. 1260 from the crusader Peter of Maricourt, some other traveler or from a wide range of reading from Arabic and alchemical books”. [/i][/b] References [1], [3], and Joseph Needham, doubt the correctness and effectiveness of the recipe of Bacon. The German scientist Albert Magnus obtained his information from the “Liber Ignium” originally an Arabic book translated in Spain. Evidence of the use of gunpowder during the crusades in Fustat, in Egypt, 1168 was found in the form of traces of potassium nitrate. Such traces were also found in 1218 during the siege of Dumyat and in the battle of Al-Mansoura in 1249. Winter mentions, [i][b]“the Chinese may have discovered saltpeter (gunpowder) or else that discovery may have been transmitted to them by the Muslims whom they had plenty of opportunities of meeting either at home or abroad. Sarton is referring to Arab-Muslim traders to China, as well as Arab inhabitants in China. As early as 880 an estimated 120,000 Muslims, Jews and Persians liven in Canton alone.” [/b][/i] [b]Canons and Rockets[/b]: There are four Arabic manuscripts (Almakhzoun manuscripts; one in Petersburg, two in Paris and one in Istanbul) in 1320 describing the first portable canon with suitable gunpowder. This description is principally the same as for modern guns. Such canons were used in the famous battle of Ain-Galout against the Mongols (1260). The Mamlouks developed the canons further during the 14th century. In Spain, Arabs used canons defending Seville (1248), in Granada 1319, in Baza or Albacete 1324, in Huescar and Martos 1325, in Alicante 1331 and in Algeziras 1342-1344. Partington says, “ the history of artillery in Spain is related to that of the Arabs”. J.R. Partington mentions, [i][b]“Arabic accounts suggest that the Arabs introduced firearms into Spain, from where they passed to Italy, from there to France, and finally Germany.”[/b][/i] [i][b]“The Arabs, in any event, appear to have been the first to inherit (and possibly) originate the secret of the rocket, and it was through Arabic writings, rather than the Mongols -- that the Europeans came to know the rocket. The two notable examples of Arabic knowledge of the rocket are the so-called “self-moving and combusting egg” of the Syrian Al-Hassan Al-Rammah (d. 1294 - 1295), details of which may be found in Willey Ley’s popular “Rockets, Missiles, and Space Travel” and physician Yusuf ibn Ismail Al-Kutub’s description (1311) of the saltpeter (“they use it to make a fire which rises and moves, thus increasing it in lightness and inflammability”).[/b] - Frank H. Winter[/i] Sources: [i]Courtesy of FSTC[/i] First posted here: [URL=http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/Forum8/HTML/001869.html]http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/Forum8/HTML/001869.html[/URL] A good link by the way, which exposes the so-called European "Dark Ages" myths. [IMG]http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/smile.gif[/IMG] [/QB][/QUOTE]
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