Paper

Before paper came along, man had to make do waxed boards, leaves, bronze, silk, and clay tablets. When it did finally arrive, however, we could safely say that the history of recording of information and ideas changed drastically. Here was a way in which man could record his thoughts on and pass it on to almost everyone else without much cost incurred as compared to, say, a wax board which could take perhaps weeks to prepare. In 4,000 BC, the ingenious Egyptians invented papyrus, a woven mat of reeds, pounded together into a hard, thin sheet. This was the first known instance of a paper-like material, and although there is no known record of this information being passed on to the Chinese, it was the Chinese who really invented paper as we know it now. Done by Ts'ai Lun, a Chinese Court offical, it was believed that Ts'ai mixed mulberry bark, hemp, and rags with water, mashed it into a pulp, pressed out the liquid and then hung the thin mat to dry in the sun.

Chinese Book

However, in AD 751, Chinese and Arab armies finally meet on the plains of conflict. The Chinese were defeated and many were taken prisoner, among them paper makers who attempted to bargain for their freedom by teaching the Arabs the secrets of paper making. Yet it took about 400 years before the technique of paper making finally reached the European world after transversing the Arabian cities. Even then, the first paper mill was built by the Arabs in Spain. The Moorish ruled the paper making technique on their side of the planet until 1244, where European armies finally came and drove them out.