The oldest surviving gun is Chinese, made no later than 1288, and weighs 3.5 kg. Europe's first picture of a cannon appears only in Walter de Milemete's English manuscript of 1326.

1288 · 1326 · apart: 38 years

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The event

• Heilongjiang hand cannonc. 1288 · Acheng, Heilongjiang. This bronze barrel of about 3.5 kg was dug up in Manchuria in 1970 and is linked to a Yuan campaign of 1288. It is the oldest surviving firearm in the world; Europe would not see guns for several more decades.

13th century · 14th century

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