Sometime about 2,000 years ago, a Chinese alchemist experimenting with three different ingredients discovered something astonishing.

When those ingredients were subjected to a flame together, they didn't just burn, there was a bang.

Over the course of the centuries, this discovery spread around the world. They didn't just burn, there was a bang.

Over the course of the centuries, this discovery spread around the world

and dramatically shaped world history.

Learn more about gunpowder,

how it was invented and how it spread around the world

on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. I've discussed many different

theme is that they're often discovered independently by different people in different places and often at

dramatically different times.

This is not the case with gunpowder.

As far as we know, gunpowder only had a single place of origin.

China. In fact, if you remember back to my episode on the subject, it is considered one of the four great inventions of China along with paper, the

compass and printing. There are some minor theorists who have posited an

origin other than China but I find the arguments to be really weak. The

evidence for China is pretty overwhelming and it dates

back centuries. There was no ancient Egyptian Greek, Indian, or Roman gunpowder.

It was developed and refined in China and then spread west from there.

The Greeks had developed flammable substances like Greek fire, and I'll refer you to my previous

episode on the subject.

However, that was not gunpowder.

Gunpowder, also known as black powder, was probably discovered by accident by a Chinese

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