Where the paper is invented. History and facts

In the beginning there was a papyrus

What we call paper, without which modern office life is simply unthinkable, did not always represent an A4 sheet . So, the question of where the paper is invented can not be given an unambiguous answer. Four thousand years ago, the ancient Egyptians used papyrus for writing. From the stems carefully removed the top layer of the skin. The removed thin sheets were superimposed on each other and held under a heavy press. The glued and dried papyrus sheets served as writing paper.

In ancient Russia, the inner layer of the birch bark was used for writing. Birch bark writings discovered by archeologists date back to the 11th-15th centuries. Although the message of the Arab writer Ibn-en-Nedim says that "on the ground of the Russians there are letters cut out on pieces of white wood." The message is dated 987 year. Some folklore sources indicate the use of birch-bark letters by North American Indians.

The birthplace of paper

The country where the paper was invented, which we use to this day, gave the world porcelain, a compass, gunpowder, fireworks. Speech, of course, about China. And if the names of the inventors of the "forerunners" of the paper sheet - papyrus scrolls and plaques - remain unknown, the name of the one who invented the paper, Pretty well known. He is Tsai Lun, who served as a eunuch at the court. There was this event in 105 AD, during the reign of the Han dynasty.

The country where the paper is invented is not planted with birch groves. Here grow mulberry tree, bamboo and rice. Cai Lun rastolok fibrous bark of the mulberry tree. The mixture was mixed with water, hemp and wood ash, and then placed on a bamboo frame with a lattice. Smoothed the resulting layer with a stone and dried it in the sun. This is how the first sheet of paper turned out. Over time, the manufacturing process has been improved. The mixture, invented by Tsai Lunem, began to add starch, silk fibers, dyes, which greatly improved the quality of paper sheets.

All the secret becomes apparent

The people of the eastern country, where the paper was invented, carefully kept the secrets of its production. However, many centuries ago Chinese merchants traveled with their goods around the world. Caravans, when they came to the new city, communicated, shared news. Returning to their native land, they brought news from behind the seas. It was a kind of global communication. And somehow in the city of Samarkand Arab merchants discovered the secrets of making paper, and when they found out, they brought it to Spain. Paper was started here in 1150. Soon the technology of paper production became known in all European countries.

In Russia, paper production appeared only in the second half of the 16th century. Written sources say that in Moscow in the 16th century there were 10 paper mills, 50 enterprises, where they made manual paper and cardboard.

Now every schoolboy knows where tea comes from, chopsticks, where the paper is invented, in general, those things that have firmly entered our everyday life.

However, the fact is less known about where the first machines appeared, producing paper in the form in which we use it now. And this event took place in France in 1798. And already in 1807 England patented the primacy in the invention of a machine for making paper in rolls. Soon, the production of paper packaging begins everywhere. But that is another story.