Paper has a long and rich history. Many of us were taught that paper originated in Egypt with the use of papyrus. But a recent archaeological discovery has revealed that the Chinese may be the first to have created paper.

Even with this discovery, the word paper did come from the term papyrus. Cyperus papyrus is a long stemmed plant that grows in damp regions of the Nile Delta in Egypt. Ancient Egyptians discovered how to make paper from the stems of the plant as early as 3000 B.C.

Another ancient paper term is tapa. Tapa is the thin fibrous bark of the paper mulberry and Pipturus albidus, a plant related to nettles. Tapa has been found extensively in nearly all cultures along the equatorial belt and is made by what is possibly the oldest papermaking technique – one still practiced in some parts of the Himalayas and South East Asia. The technique involves cooked bast, which is flattened with a wooden hammer to form a thin, fibrous layer and then dissolved in a vat with water to make a pulp. A screen consisting of a wooden frame with a fabric base is then laid in a puddle or big basin. The papermaker pours the quantity of pulp needed to make one sheet into this ‘floating mould’ and spreads it evenly, by hand, across the surface. The screen is then carefully lifted out of the water. Once the water has dripped off, the screen is placed in the sun or near a fire to dry. When dry, the sheet easily peels off and, apart from possible smoothing, requires no further treatment. This technique has two basic drawbacks. First, a separate screen is needed for each new sheet, and is only available for use again after the last sheet has dried. And second, an increase in production can soon lead to a shortage of raw material, since fresh bast is not always available everywhere in the required quantity.

Historically, fibers normally used for textiles, like flax and hemp, also served as substitutes for bast. In later times, the fabric was replaced by fine bamboo sticks, which freed the papermaker of the need to let the paper dry naturally in the mould, since the poured or ladled sheet could be ‘couched’ off.

Early records of Chinese paper showed it was often made from textile waste using hemp rags and old fish nets. Later, Chinese papermakers developed a number of sized, coated and dyed paper. The Chinese also used bamboo cooked in lye to make paper. Using bamboo provided an affordable way to write, as silk had been used prior and was quite expensive.

Papermaking is considered to be one of the four great inventions of Ancient China. The use of paper spread from China through the Islamic world, and entered production in Europe in the early 12th century.

To the east, papermaking moved to Korea, where production of paper began as early as the 6th century AD. Pulp was prepared from the fibers of hemp, rattan, mulberry, bamboo, rice straw, and seaweed. According to tradition, a Korean monk named Don-cho brought papermaking to Japan by sharing his knowledge at the Imperial Palace in approximately AD 610, sixty years after Buddhism was introduced in Japan.

The knowledge of papermaking spread to Central Asia and Tibet and then on to India. When the Arabs, in the course of their eastern expansion, neared Samarkan they too became acquainted with the production of paper. Paper mills were subsequently set up in Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and later in Morocco, Spain and Sicily. With a lack of fresh fibers, raw materials needed for papermaking consisted almost entirely of rags. The largest obstacle that stood in the way of papermaking in these parts was poorly designed processing equipment (such as breaker mills).

The export of Arabian-made paper, along with the secrets of its production, made its way to Europe and Italy. From the 13th century onwards, papermakers at two early Italian centers, Fabriano and Amalfi, tried to improve the Arabian technique. Their efforts focused not on the raw material but on its preparation. With this, the papermaking process was improved.

The Italian papermakers improved on the papermaking process with the following additions and changes: Making use of water power; Improving the stamping mill (derived from the stampers and milling machines used in textile handicrafts); Improving the mould made of wire mesh (as a result of progress in wire production), which triggered the introduction of couching on felt; Designing the paper press (screw press) with slides for feeding in the material; Drying the sheets on ropes and dip sizing.

In the course of the rapid expansion of trade in the late Middle Ages, more and more merchants dealt in the commodity called paper. As the intellectual life grew, so did the importance of the paper product. According to diaries, June 24, 1390 show the first records of papermaking on German soil.

Mechanized production of paper in the early 19th century caused significant cultural changes worldwide, allowing for the relatively cheap exchange of information in the form of letters, newspapers and books for the first time. And so the paper industry evolved into what it is today, an art made common to almost every country around the world.

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