c. 800 CE–c. 1044 CE
Early Chinese records of gunpowder formulas
War & military technology · Pólvora · Textos militares · Armas incendiarias · Tecnología química
The earliest known gunpowder formula probably appears in a ninth-century Chinese work; the 1044 *Wujing zongyao* offers an early direct description of mixtures connected to military practice. Formulas, incendiary uses, and later weapons should not be conflated with one already fully defined firearm or with immediate diffusion beyond China.
Precision, calendar, and review
- Start
- year · approximate
- End
- year · approximate
- Calendar and convention
- Historical-era years; the source calendar is not identified. No conversion of days is assumed.
- Year zero
- The scale goes from 1 BCE to 1 CE without year zero. Changing era names changes labels only.
- Documentary review
- Date not recorded
Reading the date: duration of a process.
Sources
- www.cambridge.org (opens in a new tab)
Source provenance and scope
- Publication date
- 2003-07
- What this date describes
- The cited source or edition; it may postdate the historical event.
- Bibliographic date checked
- 2026-09-23
- Date evidence
- Declared in the cited source’s publisher metadata.
The correspondence between this reference and individual claims has not yet been itemized.
This record is an editorial synthesis. Consult the sources to check claims and their limits. Chronological relationships alone do not establish causation.