Gunpowder is perhaps THE most influential thing in history. Except, maybe for iron. Still, without gunpowder, much of today’s resources, countries, and even fun wouldn’t exist. Unlike its name suggests, gunpowder is used for a lot more things than guns. And, as most important things do, gunpowder’s humble origins can be traced back to secret societies and magic.
The uses of gunpowder are many, but not very different. As its name suggests, gunpowder is used for guns, cannons, etc. However, since the 19th century, it has been replaced by smokeless powder. It is useful for mining shale, granite, and marble, since shale is fragile and gunpowder doesn’t explode a lot. However, dynamite replaced gunpowder for mining regular stone fairly quickly. Today, gunpowder is used to propel fireworks and mini-rockets.
Gunpowder was discovered in China in the 800s by a secret society known as alchemists, who desired to make two things: The Elixir of Life, which granted everlasting youth and life to the owner, and The Philosopher’s Stone, which turned any substance into gold. Alchemy was not restricted to China, though. Isaac Newton (yes, the one who described gravity and made calculus) was a famed alchemist, though that only got out after he died as it wasn’t a particularly tasteful profession among society. Alchemists were known as witches and sorcerers, and that was what they were trying to be.
Gunpowder is made out of sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter, or potassium nitrate. Long story short, the Chinese found out that gunpowder made bangs and flashes and burns and soon they started making fireworks, fire arrows, and fire lances. And then, they invented the hand cannon or the first gun.
Long story short, word got out and the Persians and Arabs took everything they knew about gunpowder, creating three powerful empires that would last for centuries with the power of guns: The Ottoman Empire in Turkey, the Safavid Empire in Iran, and the Mughal Empire in India. These are called the gunpowder empires. Pretty soon, everyone in Europe and Asia had guns, and the people in Africa, the Americas, and Australia didn’t. Then we get to the ‘friendly’ trade relations between England, France and Native Americans whereas the latter obtained guns. From the 1700s onward, wars increased in frequency, size, and deadliness. However, in 1848 smokeless powder was made and gunpowder used declined.
Anay Ganesh 