page_title: History of the firearm
section_title: Middle East
hierarchical_section_title: History of the firearm / Middle East
caption_attribution_description: English: Guns - Safavid dynasty-17AD فارسی: تفنگهای فتیله ای متعلق به دوره صفوی
context_page_description: After the Chinese invented black powder during the 9th century, these inventions were later transmitted to the Middle East, and Europe. The direct ancestor of the firearm is the fire lance. The prototype of the fire lance was invented in China during the 10th century and is the predecessor of all firearms.
context_section_description: Firearms appeared in the Middle East between the late 13th century and early 14th century. Ahmad Y. al-Hassan claims that the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260 saw the Mamluks use against the Mongols "the first cannon in history" with gunpowder formula which are almost identical with the ideal composition for explosive gunpowder. However, Iqtidar Alam Khan argues that it was invading Mongols who introduced gunpowder to the Islamic world and cites Mamluk antagonism towards early riflemen in their infantry as an example of how gunpowder weapons were not always met with open acceptance in the Middle East.
  The first references to the use of what may have been arquebuses (tüfek) by the Janissary corps of the Ottoman army date them from 1394 to 1465. However it's unclear whether these were arquebuses or small cannons as late as 1444, but the fact that they were listed separate from cannons in mid-15th century inventories suggest they were handheld firearms. 
  The musket first appeared in the Ottoman Empire by 1465. In 1598, Chinese writer Zhao Shizhen described Turkish muskets as being superior to European muskets. The Chinese military book Wu Pei Chih (1621) later described Turkish muskets that used a rack-and-pinion mechanism, which was not known to have been used in European or Chinese firearms at the time.
caption: Guns - Safavid Empire - Iran (Persia)
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