History of paper

Woodcuts depicting the five seminal steps in ancient Chinese papermaking. From the 1637 Tiangong Kaiwu of the Ming dynasty.[1]

Paper is a thin nonwoven material traditionally made from a combination of milled plant and textile fibres. The first paper-like plant-based writing sheet was papyrus in Egypt, but the first true papermaking process was documented in China during the Eastern Han period (25–220 AD), traditionally attributed to the court official Cai Lun. This plant-puree conglomerate produced by pulp mills and paper mills was used for writing, drawing, and money. During the 8th century, Chinese paper making spread to the Islamic world, replacing papyrus. By the 11th century, papermaking was brought to Europe, where it replaced animal-skin-based parchment and wood panels. By the 13th century, papermaking was refined with paper mills using waterwheels in Spain. Later improvements to the papermaking process came in 19th century Europe with the invention of wood-based papers.

Although there were precursors such as papyrus in the Mediterranean world and amate in the pre-Columbian Americas, these are not considered true paper.[2][3] Nor is true parchment considered paper:[a] used principally for writing, parchment is heavily prepared animal skin that predates paper and possibly papyrus. In the 20th century with the advent of plastic manufacture, some plastic "paper" was introduced, as well as paper-plastic laminates, paper-metal laminates, and papers infused or coated with different substances to produce special properties.

  1. ^ 香港臨時市政局 [Provisional Urban Council]; 中國歷史博物館聯合主辦 [Hong Kong Museum of History] (1998). "Zàozhǐ" 造纸 [Papermaking]. Tian gong kai wu: Zhongguo gu dai ke ji wen wu zhan 天工開物 中國古代科技文物展 [Heavenly Creations: Gems of Ancient Chinese Inventions] (in Chinese and English). Hong Kong: 香港歷史博物館 [Hong Kong Museum of History]. p. 60. ISBN 978-962-7039-37-2. OCLC 41895821.
  2. ^ Barrett 2008, p. 34.
  3. ^ Barik 2019, p. 83.


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