How paper is made | Sappi

A brief history of paper production

Before people started making paper from wood-pulp, writing was done on other surfaces, such as stone, clay slabs and the skin from animals. From about 4000 BC, the Egyptians began to develop a way to make paper from the fibres of papyrus reeds, which they wove into mats and then pounded together into a hard, thin sheet, on which they could write. The word ‘paper’ comes from the word ‘papyrus.

Paper, as we know it, was invented in 105 AD by Chinese court official who, it is believed, mixed mulberry bark, hemp and rags with water, mashed it into a pulp, pressed out the liquid and hung the thin mat to dry in the sun.

From AD 610, Buddhist monks slowly introduced the art to japan, where paper-making became an essential part of the Japanese culture. Paper was used for writing on, to make fans, clothing, dolls and was even used as an important material in building houses.

Only in about 1009 AD, was the first paper mill built in Spain. After that, paper-making spread to Italy, Germany and England. Finally, in 1690, the first paper-mill was started in North America. At that stage, paper was made mainly from old cloths and rags.

In 1719, the use of wood was introduced, and in 1798, a machine was invented to make paper on a continuous, revolving screen and the use of chemicals to ‘digest’ the wood, was introduced into the paper-making process. In South Africa, papermaking was first attempted in the 1820s, by Grahamstown man named Ydlington.

After 1900, the economy mass production of paper became a reality. Newspaper, books and magazines flourished and paper made its way into schools, replacing the old writing slates. Today paper is plentiful and widely used.