History of Paper

Paper- a thin nonwoven material primarily used for writing, artwork, packaging, etc.
- made by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibers derived from
wood, or other vegetable sources in water.

Oldest Inscriptions
Oracle bones- ancient Chinese oracles used bones and shells from the late 13th
century BC.
Bamboo stalks- around 500 BC Chinese start to write on bamboo.
Birch bark writing- was used in India from the 1st century AD and in some parts of
Russia during the Middle Ages.
Palm leaves- were used as writing materials in South Asia and in Southeast Asia dating
back to the 5th century BC, and possibly much earlier.
Clay tablets- used ancient Mediterranean civilizations for sophisticated accounting
systems.
Ostraca- used ancient Athenians known as broken pieces of pottery to record the
individual nominations of Greek leaders for ostracism.
Papyrus- was used as a writing surface from the 3rd millennium was used as a writing
surface from the 3rd millennium BC in Egypt.
- Papyrus was also used by the Greeks and Romans.
Parchment- used in Europe until the Middle Ages.
The exact date or the inventor of the paper are not known.

The earliest extant paper fragment was unearthed at Fangmatan in Gansu province,
China, and was likely part of a map, dated to 179-141 BC.
Tsa’i Lun (50 AD – 121 AD)
- Chinese inventor of the modern papermaking process.
- inspired by wasps and bees, using rags and other plant fibers in 105 AD.
- Eunuch court official of the Eastern Han dynasty
The Chinese used paper for padding and wrapping, and starting around the late 6th
century, they used it as toilet paper.
During the Tang dynasty- paper was used to make tea bags.
During the Song dynasty- the Chinese government produced the world’s first known
paper money, or banknotes.
During the Song dynasty the demand for paper grew substantially, and in the year 1101,
1.5 million sheets of paper were sent to the Chinese capital.

After its origin in central China

- the production and use of paper spread steadily, arriving in Vietnam in the 3rd century.
- to Korea in the 4th century.
- to Japan in the 5th century.
- and to India in the second half of the 7th century.

Paper was used in Central Asia by the 8th century, but its origin is not clear.
During the 8th century, paper started to replace parchment as the primary writing
material for administrative uses in Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasids.
- Then, paper was used for printing important books, bibles, and legal documents.
The expansion of public and private libraries and illustrated books within Islamic lands
was one of the notable outcomes of a drastic increase in the availability of paper.

Eventually paper arrived in Europe

Mozarab Missal of Silos -The oldest known paper document being from the 11th
century.
-The first recorded paper mill in the Iberian Peninsula was in Xàtiva in 1056.
Paper mills-(factory of paper) were established in the Italian peninsula and in France
until 1300.
- Papermaking spread then to the rest of Europe in the next two centuries.
Johannes Gutenberg- a German inventor developed the world’s first mechanical
moveable type printing press in 1450. His creation is ignited, and it also laid the
groundwork for the current economy-based knowledge.
Jurist Justus Claproth – a German invented a process of removing printing inks from
paper, allowing it to be reused, known today as deinking in 1774.
Henry Fourdrinier - developed the Fourdrinier machine, the first paper making
machine in 1806.
- the historical hand paper-making method, which could not satisfy the demands of
developing modern society for large quantities of printing and writing materials.
Canadian Charles Fenerty and German Friedrich Gottlob Keller- had invented the
machine and associated process to make use of wood pulp in papermaking in 1844.
-This innovation ended the nearly 2,000-year use of pulped rags and start a new era for
paper making.
With the introduction of cheaper paper, books, newspapers, personal diaries, and letters
became more and more widespread by the end of the 19th century.
-In 1922, Germany published a standard system of paper formats to increase the
efficiency of producing office furniture.
-During the 20th century the technology behind the paper machine developed further,
so that the production speed and the quality of the produced paper increased.
-At the beginning of the 21st century, paper is considered a cheap commodity, which
usually led to a high level of consumption and waste.
- Today, recycling has always been a part of papermaking. When you recycle your used
paper, paper mills will use it to make new paper products.

Precedence
The paper changes the life of human beings and greatly helped the spread of literature
and literacy. Now, paper has many uses they are used for painting sheets, banks,
collages, schools, offices, and more. Paper is mainly used to read and write.