Guns were first invented in China, where gunpowder and the earliest true firearms (like fire lances and hand cannons) appeared between roughly the 10th and 13th centuries.

Early origins in China

  • Gunpowder was developed in China around the 9th century as alchemists experimented with saltpeter and other ingredients, long before it was used in guns.
  • The first firearms were fire lances—tubes attached to spears that used gunpowder to project flames and shrapnel—recorded in China between the 10th and 12th centuries.

First true “guns”

  • By the late 13th century, the Chinese had developed metal hand cannons, recognizable as the first true guns: reusable tubes firing projectiles with gunpowder.
  • One famous early example is the Heilongjiang hand cannon from about 1288, found in northeast China, often cited as the oldest surviving firearm.

Spread beyond China

  • Knowledge of gunpowder weapons spread west via trade and warfare, reaching the Middle East and then Europe by the 13th–14th centuries.
  • European armies were using guns such as early cannons and handguns in warfare by the 14th century, and firearms technology rapidly diversified from there.

Why “where were guns invented” matters today

  • Modern discussions about where guns were invented often highlight how a Chinese military innovation became central to global warfare, policing, hunting, and civilian life.
  • Current debates on firearms regulation, violence, and self-defense frequently point back to this long technological evolution from early Chinese fire lances to today’s modern weapons.

In short: when asking “where were guns invented” , historians overwhelmingly trace the origin to medieval China, with later global refinement and mass adoption. Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.