Editing Matchlock (section)

==History==
{{further|History of gunpowder|Timeline of the gunpowder age}}
[[File:Strings for night firing.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Japanese peasant foot soldiers (''[[ashigaru]]'') firing ''[[Tanegashima (Japanese matchlock)|tanegashima]]'' (matchlocks)]]

The earliest form of matchlock in Europe appeared by 1411 and in the Ottoman Empire by 1425.<ref name="Needham">{{Citation |last=Needham |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Needham |title=Science & Civilisation in China |year=1986 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=V:7: ''The Gunpowder Epic'' |isbn=0-521-30358-3|page=443}}</ref> This early arquebus was a hand cannon with a serpentine lever to hold matches.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=425}} However this early arquebus did not have the matchlock mechanism traditionally associated with the weapon. The exact dating of the matchlock addition is disputed. The first references to the use of what may have been matchlock arquebuses (''tüfek'') by the [[Janissary]] corps of the [[Military of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Army]] date them from 1394 to 1465.<ref name="Needham"/>  However it is unclear whether these were arquebuses or small cannons as late as 1444, but according to Gábor Ágoston the fact that they were listed separately from cannons in mid-15th century inventories suggest they were handheld firearms, though he admits this is disputable.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ágoston |first1=Gábor |title=Military Transformation in the Ottoman Empire and Russia, 1500–1800 |journal=Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History |date=2011 |volume=12 |issue=2 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254954728 |pages=281–319 [294] |doi=10.1353/kri.2011.0018|s2cid=19755686 |quote=Initially the Janissaries were equipped with bows, crossbows, and javelins. In the first half of the 15th century, they began to use matchlock arquebuses, although the first references to the Ottomans’ use of tüfek or hand firearms of the arquebus type (1394, 1402, 1421, 1430, 1440, 1442) are disputable.}}</ref> [[Godfrey Goodwin (scholar)|Godfrey Goodwin]] dates the first use of the matchlock arquebus by the Janissaries to no earlier than 1465.<ref>Godfrey Goodwin: ''The Janissaries'', saqu Books, 2006, p. 129 {{ISBN|978-0-86356-740-7}}</ref> The idea of a serpentine later appeared in an [[Austria]]n manuscript dated to the mid-15th century. The first dated illustration of a matchlock mechanism dates to 1475, and by the 16th century they were universally used. During this time the latest tactic in using the matchlock was to line up and send off a volley of musket balls at the enemy. This volley would be much more effective than single soldiers trying to hit individual targets.<ref name="Weir 2005 71–74"/>

[[File:Drehling GNM W1984 ca 1580.jpg|thumb|Eight-shot matchlock revolver (Germany {{Circa|1580}})]]

Robert Elgood theorizes the armies of the Italian states used the [[arquebus]] in the 15th century, but this may be a type of [[hand cannon]], not matchlocks with trigger mechanism. He agreed that the matchlock first appeared in Western Europe during the 1470s in Germany.<ref>{{cite book|last=Elgood|first=Robert|title=Firearms of the Islamic World: In the Tared Rajab Museum, Kuwait|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=epaMx7jSZjIC&pg=PA41|year=1995|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-85043-963-9|page=41}}</ref> Improved versions of the Ottoman arquebus were transported to [[India]] by [[Babur]] in 1526.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dale |first=Stephen F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tLxsDwAAQBAJ&q=Matchlock |title=Babur |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2018 |isbn=9781108470070 |pages=100}}</ref>

The matchlock was claimed to have been introduced to China by the [[Portugal|Portuguese]]. The Chinese obtained the matchlock arquebus technology from the Portuguese in the 16th century and matchlock firearms were used by the Chinese into the 19th century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Garrett|first=Richard J.|title=The Defences of Macau: Forts, Ships and Weapons over 450 years|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=24Wxr5vL1YcC&pg=PA4|year=2010|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|isbn=978-988-8028-49-8|page=4}}</ref> The [[Firearm ownership law in China#History|Chinese used the term "bird-gun" to refer to muskets]] and Turkish muskets may have reached China before Portuguese ones.<ref name="Chase2003">{{cite book|author=Kenneth Warren Chase|title=Firearms: A Global History to 1700|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=esnWJkYRCJ4C&pg=PA144|date=2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-82274-9|page=144}}</ref>
[[File:Arquebus with a rain cover 1598.jpg|thumb|A Chinese Arquebus with a rain cover, c. 1598]]
In [[Japan]], the first documented introduction of the matchlock, which became known as the ''[[Tanegashima (Japanese matchlock)|tanegashima]]'', was through the [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] in 1543.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lidin|first=Olof G.|title=Tanegashima: The Arrival of Europe in Japan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6WQnNqhDNhAC|year=2002|publisher=NIAS Press|isbn=978-87-91114-12-0}}</ref> The ''tanegashima'' seems to have been based on ''snap matchlocks'' that were produced in the armory of Goa in [[Portuguese India]], which was [[Conquest of Goa (1510)|captured by the Portuguese in 1510]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Daehnhardt |first=Rainer |title=The Bewitched Gun: The Introduction of the Firearm in the Far East by the Portuguese; Espingarda Feiticeira: A Introducao Da Arma De Fogo Pelos Portugueses No Extremo-Oriente |publisher=Texto Editora |year=1994 |pages=26}}</ref> While the Japanese were technically able to produce tempered steel (e.g. sword blades), they preferred to use work-hardened brass springs in their matchlocks. The name ''tanegashima'' came from the island where a Chinese [[Junk (ship)|junk]] (a type of ship) with Portuguese adventurers on board was driven to anchor by a storm. The lord of the Japanese island [[Tanegashima Tokitaka]] (1528–1579) purchased two matchlock rifles from the Portuguese and put a swordsmith to work copying the matchlock barrel and firing mechanism. Within a few years, the use of the ''tanegashima'' in battle forever changed the way war was fought in Japan.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/givingupgun00noel|url-access= registration|title= Giving up the gun: Japan's reversion to the sword, 1543–1879 |author= Noel Perrin |publisher= David R Godine |year=1979|isbn=978-0-87923-773-8}}</ref>

Despite the appearance of more advanced ignition systems, such as that of the [[wheellock]] and the [[snaphance]], the low cost of production, simplicity, and high availability of the matchlock kept it in use in European armies. It left service around 1750.<ref name=Ferguson1027>{{cite AV media |people=Jonathan Ferguson |date=30 November 2024 |title=Cursed Muskets & Firearms Folklore: Our Halloween Special with firearms expert Jonathan Ferguson |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGgZJ112lSc |access-date=1 November 2024 |time=10:27-10:34 |publisher=Royal Armouries }}</ref> It was eventually completely replaced by the [[flintlock]] as the foot soldier's main armament.

In Japan, matchlocks continued to see military use up to the mid-19th century. In China, matchlock guns were still being used by imperial army soldiers in the middle decades of the 19th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jowett |first1=Philip |title=Imperial Chinese Armies 1840–1911 |date=2016 |publisher=Osprey Publishing Ltd. |page=19}}</ref>

There is evidence that matchlock rifles may have been in use among some peoples in Christian [[Ethiopian Empire|Abyssinia]] in the late Middle Ages. Although modern rifles were imported into Ethiopia during the 19th century, contemporary British historians noted that, along with [[slingshot]]s, matchlock rifle weapons were used by the elderly for self-defense and by the militaries of the [[Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#The Mesafint|Ras]].<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Abyssinia |volume= 01 |last1= Cana |first1= Frank Richardson | pages = 82&ndash;95; see page 89, first para, six lines from the end|quote= Although the army has been equipped with modern rifles, the common weapon of the people is the matchlock, and slings are still in use. }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|jstor=1798118|title=Memorandum on Abyssinia|first=The Foreign|last=Office|date=18 May 2018|journal=The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London|volume=25|pages=215–218|doi=10.2307/1798118}}</ref>

Under [[Taiwan under Qing rule|Qing rule]], the [[Hakka people|Hakka]] on Taiwan owned matchlock muskets. Han people traded and sold matchlock muskets to the [[Taiwanese aborigines]]. During the [[Sino-French War]], the Hakka and Aboriginals used their matchlock muskets against the French in the [[Keelung Campaign]] and [[Battle of Tamsui]]. The Hakka used their matchlock muskets to resist the [[Japanese invasion of Taiwan (1895)]] and Han Taiwanese and Aboriginals conducted an insurgency against Japanese rule.