History of paper

Uncommon card · No. 80954

Paper is a thin nonwoven material traditionally made from a combination of milled plant and other 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 CE), 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 had reached Europe, where it initially coexisted with animal-skin-based parchment before eventually replacing it, alongside wax tablets and thin wooden leaf tablets. By the 13th century, papermaking had been refined, with paper mills in Spain using waterwheels. 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...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Unknown pre-modern painter of the 1637 Tiangong Kaiwu of the Ming dynasty., Public domain