hi I'm Craig I invented fireworks in my
pants and this is Mental Floss video
today I'm an answer Lindsay's big
question what is the origin of fireworks
what a perfect question to ask for our
July video it's almost the 4th of July
here in the US let's get started
we know that fireworks have been around
since at least the Tang Dynasty in China
which was during the 7th century CE II
it's believed that they were invented
not for their appearance but for the
noise they make kaboom
are you paying attention you should be
paying attention now the ancient Chinese
probably used them to scare off enemies
and spirits they might have been
repurposed military weapons made from
dried bamboo and an early version of
gunpowder Oh some sources claim
fireworks came first then people started
using gunpowder and weapons the earliest
fireworks probably look more like
sparklers than the modern ones we know
there's an account of these early
fireworks in a book called rustic tales
in eastern cheek my nickname in high
school which was written by Chu in 1264
I've had a lot of nicknames in high
school they were referred to as ground
rats or earth rats and that's because
they didn't actually leave the ground
people would light the bamboo and
gunpowder contraption and then it would
kind of spin and move around on the
ground and people would go ah something
maybe that was speculation that's
speculate I don't know I don't know that
for sure around the 12th century people
started to use fireworks for more
celebratory purposes for instance when
an emperor came into town citizens would
set them off again are you paying
attention this is all tricks to get you
to keep paying attention took a few more
centuries for Europeans to jump on the
firework bandwagon we don't know for
sure how they got there but both Marco
Polo and the Crusaders have gotten
credit for bringing gunpowder back from
China so they might have had something
to do with it between the 13th and 16th
centuries fireworks became more and more
popular in Europe eventually the army
and other groups started setting them
off on special occasions in Italy they
even became associated with religious
holidays now you may be wondering how
fireworks became a custom for the 4th of
July in the US John Adams actually gets
credit for that in 1776 he wrote a
letter to Abigail Adams which he claimed
that the Declaration of Independence
should be celebrated with quote pomp and
parade with shows games sports guns
bells bonfires and illuminations from
one end of this continent to the other
from this time forward forever more
that's why fireworks are constantly
exploding in the US forever
not really but the next year celebrators
did just that according to newspapers
from 1777 fireworks were set off in
Philadelphia in Boston and the tradition
continued thanks for watching Mental
Floss video which is made with the help
of all these explosive people if you
have a big question of your own like
answered leave it below in the
see you next time kaboom
you