When one normally thinks of the origin of paper the first thing that
comes to mind is Egypt and the River Nile. It is the valley of the river
Nile that the marsh grass called Cyperous Papyrus thrived. The Egyptian
cut the stem of the plant into thin strips and soaked in the water of
the Nile. This softened the stem. Then these strips were arranged to
form a mat and pounded to form a thin sheet. This sheet was sun dried.
The resulting sheet was used to write on and as it was light it was easy
to carry around. The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans to record events,
write spiritual texts and create works of art used these sheets. It is
from the word papyrus that the word paper is derived. It has been
discovered that the Mayans made something similar to keep records in the
second century AD. This was nothing like the paper that we use today it
was more of a mat.
Invention of paper as we know it today is attributed to the T'sai Lun
Chief eunuch, of Emperor Ho-Ti's of the Han dynasty. It is said that
T'sai Lun experimented with different materials and developed the art
macerating the fibre of plants until each strand was separated. These
separated fibres were mixed with water in a huge vat and a screen was
dipped into the vat and lifted through the water, which caught the
fibres on its surface. This layer of intertwined fibre was dried and
product that was formed was paper. The paper was thin, flexible and
strong and had a fine smooth surface and T'sai Lun was respected as the
patron saint of papermaking.
The process of making paper was kept a secret within China till the 3rd
century then it spread to Vietnam and then to Tibet. Paper was
introduced in Korea in the 4th century and to Japan in the 6th century.
Then it spread slowly to Asia and Nepal. In 751AD when the Tang dynasty
was at war with the Muslim rulers on the banks of the Tarus River. The
Muslims captured a Chinese caravan that had many papermakers as well.
They were taken to Samarkand and they taught the Muslims how to make
paper and eventually Samarkand became an important center for the
production of paper. From here the paper makers moved west to Baghdad,
Damascus and Cairo. When the Moors of North Africa attacked Spain and
Portugal they took the paper making technique with them and papermaking
finally found its way to Europe in the 12th century.
