A Taoist philosopher by the name of Ge Hong wrote down the ingredients of gunpowder in his surviving works, collectively known as the Baopuzi ('The Master Who Embraces Simplicity'). The next reference to gunpowder occurred in the year 300 during the Jin dynasty (266вЂ“420).

One of the resulting alchemical experiments involved heating 10% sulfur and 75% saltpeter to transform them. The Taoist quest for the elixir of life attracted many powerful patrons, one of whom was Emperor Wu of Han. Historian Peter Lorge notes that despite the early association of gunpowder with Taoism, this may be a quirk of historiography and a result of the better preservation of texts associated with Taoism, rather than being a subject limited to only Taoists. While it was almost certainly not their intention to create a weapon of war, Taoist alchemists continued to play a major role in gunpowder development due to their experiments with sulfur and saltpeter involved in searching for eternal life and ways to transmute one material into another. Wei Boyang is considered to be a semi-legendary figure meant to represent a 'collective unity', and the Cantong qi was probably written in stages from the Han dynasty to 450 AD. At this time, saltpeter was produced in Hanzhong, but would shift to Gansu and Sichuan later on. Although he did not name the powders, 'they were almost certainly the ingredients of gunpowder,' and no other explosive known to scientists is composed of three powders. He described a mixture of three powders that would 'fly and dance' violently in his Cantong qi, otherwise known as the Book of the Kinship of Three, a Taoist text on the subject of alchemy. The earliest possible reference to gunpowder appeared in 142 AD during the Eastern Han dynasty when the alchemist Wei Boyang, also known as the 'father of alchemy', wrote about a substance with gunpowder-like properties. Gunpowder was invented in China sometime during the first millennium AD. 3 Historiography of gunpowder and gun transmissionДЇurther information: Gunpowder weapons in the Song dynasty Gunpowder formula.Gunpowder is often referred to today as ' black powder' to distinguish it from the propellant used in contemporary firearms. The use of gunpowder in warfare during the course of the 19th century diminished due to the invention of smokeless powder. The so-called Gunpowder Empires of the early modern period consisted of the Mughal Empire, Safavid Empire, and Ottoman Empire. The use of gunpowder technology also spread throughout the Islamic world and to India, Korea, and Japan. The gradual improvement of cannons firing heavier rounds for a greater impact against fortifications led to the invention of the star fort and the bastion in the Western world, where traditional city walls and castles were no longer suitable for defense. Firearms came to dominate early modern warfare in Europe by the 17th century. The evolution of guns led to the development of large artillery pieces, popularly known as bombards, during the 15th century, pioneered by states such as the Duchy of Burgundy.

Gunpowder has also been used for non-military purposes such as fireworks for entertainment, or in explosives for mining and tunneling. Bombs too never ceased to develop and continued to progress into the modern day as grenades, mines, and other explosive implements. While the fire lance was eventually supplanted by the gun, other gunpowder weapons such as rockets and fire arrows continued to see use in China, Korea, India, and eventually Europe. It was employed in warfare to some effect from at least the 10th century in weapons such as fire arrows, bombs, and the fire lance before the appearance of the gun in the 13th century. Knowledge of gunpowder spread rapidly throughout Asia, the Middle East and Europe, possibly as a result of the Mongol conquests during the 13th century, with written formulas for it appearing in the Middle East between 12 in a treatise by Hasan al-Rammah, and in Europe by 1267 in the Opus Majus by Roger Bacon. Popularly listed as one of the ' Four Great Inventions' of China, it was invented during the late Tang dynasty (9th century) while the earliest recorded chemical formula for gunpowder dates to the Song dynasty (11th century).

Gunpowder is the first explosive to have been developed. Earliest known written formula for gunpowder, from the Wujing Zongyao of 1044 AD.

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