Wootz Steel Weapons

Timeline

1. c. 1581–1584Golconda · Deccan PlateauWorkshops under the Golconda Sultanate smelted wootz steel ingots using clay crucibles and charcoal reduction, controlling carbon content and trace elements to form distinctive carbide banding; finished products were exported priced by weight.
2. c. 1584–1587Basra · IraqSteel ingots were carried by fleets from Surat and Muscat to Basra, where Persian and Ottoman merchants sorted them by grade; some went overland north to Isfahan, others via the Red Sea to bladesmith workshops in Syria.
3. c. 1587–1590Damascus · SyriaSyrian bladesmiths used fold-forging and acid etching to reveal the wootz watery pattern, producing curved swords and daggers distributed to the Ottoman court and Levant caravans; European envoys began recording their sharpness and beauty.