Origin of Paper

The Egyptians invented the idea of making paper over 5000 years ago by the Nile river. They got strips of fibre from a marshland grass called cyperous papyrus, pressed them together and left them to dry.

The Chinese experimented with this way of making this fibre and eventually found a way of separating each fibre and from plants. They were mixed together, submerged it in water and let it to dry. This is the fibre that we now use as paper.



• Papyrus (left) is a Latin word and this is where we get the word "paper" from.
• It was what the Egyptians used to make things like sandals, mats, writing material (or their kind of paper), ropes etc.
• Papyrus is composed of 57% cellulose, 27% lignin, 9% minerals and 7% water.