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Spread of Papermaking Westward

Type Event Region Asia Time 901–1000

In the 10th century, papermaking made key advances westward along the Silk Road and into the Islamic world, gradually replacing parchment and papyrus.

Timeline

  1. 901–950Samarkand · UzbekistanAfter Chinese papermaking was introduced to Samarkand in the 8th century, by the 10th century it had become an important papermaking center of Central Asia. Local craftsmen improved the raw material formula, replacing mulberry bark with linen, rags, and plant fibers, significantly raising paper quality and output to supply markets in Persia and West Asia.
  2. 920–980Baghdad · IraqDuring the Abbasid period, paper mills were widely established in Baghdad and Persian cities, and paper became the main medium for official documents and scholarly works. In the 10th century, paper was far cheaper than parchment, spurring the translation movement and library construction; the scholarly flourishing of the Islamic Golden Age was closely tied to the spread of paper.
  3. 950–1000Cairo · EgyptEgypt under Fatimid rule established paper mills around the mid-10th century, and paper replaced papyrus as the main writing material of the Nile Valley. Around the same time, paper workshops also appeared in al-Andalus (Muslim Spain); the technology slowly reached Christian Europe via the northern Mediterranean coast, laying the foundation for later European papermaking.

Sources