The History of Cannons: Part 1

Cannons before the 1800s
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Early cannons are the descendants of fire-lances, a primitive type of flamethrower. Other firearms also descend from the fire-lance, which was one of the first gunpowder weapons in the world.

The earliest known cannon was invented in the 3rd Century B.C. by Ctesibius of Alexandria. Because many of his works are lost, very little is known about this cannon, other than that it used compressed air to fire.

An early cannon design, shown at right, is known as the Tsar Cannon . It was commisioned in 1586 by Tsar Fyodor I Ivanovich of Russia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannon