source: history.comAt some point between 600 and 900 A.D., Chinese alchemists mixed together saltpeter (potassium nitrate, then a common kitchen seasoning), charcoal, sulfur, and other ingredients, unwittingly yielding an early form of gunpowder. The alchemists began stuffing the volatile substance into bamboo shoots that were then thrown into the fire to produce a loud blast. The first fireworks were born.

Soon, paper tubes came to replace the bamboo stalks, and by the 10th century, crafters of fireworks had begun attaching firecrackers to arrows that rained down on their adversaries during military engagements. Used outside the field of battle, the same technology allowed fireworks masters to put on the first aerial displays.

source: history.comIn the 13th century, gunpowder samples and formulas began trickling into Europe and Arabia, transported by diplomats, explorers, and Franciscan missionaries. Western scientists, metallurgists, and military leaders threw themselves into making the substance even more potent and building powerful weapons such as cannons and muskets.

In medieval England, fireworks experts were known as firemasters. Their assistants, called “green men” because they wore caps of leaves to protect their heads from sparks, doubled as jesters, entertaining the crowd with jokes as they prepared the displays. It was a dangerous profession at the time, with many green men dying or suffering injuries when detonations went awry.

source: history.comBy the time of the Renaissance, pyrotechnic schools were training fireworks artists across Europe, particularly in Italy, which became famous for its elaborate and colorful displays. It was the Italians who in the 1830s became the first to incorporate trace amounts of metals and other additives, creating the bright, multi-hued sparks and sunbursts seen in contemporary fireworks shows.

In England, the earliest recorded display took place on Henry VII’s wedding day in 1486. French kings regularly put on spectacular displays at Versailles and other palaces, while Peter the Great of Russia arranged a five-hour pyrotechnic extravaganza to mark the birth of his son.

Settlers brought fireworks to the new world and on July 3, 1777, fireworks displays commemorated the fledgling country’s first anniversary, just as they have each subsequent one.