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Where did black powder most likely originate?
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explosive
A coal miner loading a drill hole with a water gel explosive called Tovex.
While it may never be known with absolute certainty who invented black powder, the consensus among historians is that it originated in China during the 9th or 10th century CE.123
Chinese alchemists, who were searching for life-extending elixirs, discovered the mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur. Initially, the substance was used primarily for fireworks and signals, though there is evidence that it was also utilized in rockets and early military devices.123
While some theories suggest independent discovery by Arabs or European scholars like Roger Bacon, it is widely believed that the technology eventually spread from China to the West, likely via the Mongols or through the Arab world, by the 13th century.123