Invention of Gunpowder

Gunpowder is the first explosive to have been created in the world.^¹ Popularly listed as one of the "Four Great Inventions" of China, it was invented during the late Tang dynasty while the earliest recorded chemical formula for gunpowder dates to the Song dynasty.^¹ Knowledge of gunpowder spread rapidly throughout Eurasia, possibly as a result of the Mongol conquests during the 13th century, with written formulas for it appearing in the Middle East between 1240 and 1280 in a treatise by Hasan al-Rammah, and in Europe by 1267 in the Opus Majus by Roger Bacon.^¹ It was employed in warfare to some effect from at least the 10th century in weapons such as fire arrows, bombs, and the fire lance before the appearance of the gun in the 13th century.^¹ While the fire lance was eventually supplanted by the gun, other gunpowder weapons such as rockets and fire arrows continued to see use in China, Korea, India, and this eventually led to its use in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.^¹ Bombs too never ceased to develop and continued to progress into the modern day as grenades, mines, and other explosive implements.^¹ Gunpowder has also been used for non-military purposes such as fireworks for entertainment, or in explosives for mining and tunneling.^¹