Editing Musket (section)

===Asia===
[[File:Early matchlocks.jpg|thumb|Early matchlocks as illustrated in the ''[[Baburnama]]'' (16th century)]]

Matchlock firearms were used in India by 1500,{{sfn|Khan|2004|p=131}} in [[Đại Việt]] by 1516,{{sfn|Tran|2006|p=107}} and in Southeast Asia by 1540.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=169}} According to a [[Myanmar|Burmese]] source from the late 15th century, King [[Minkhaung II]] would not dare attack the besieged town of [[Prome]] due to the defenders' use of cannon and small arms that were described as muskets, although these were probably early [[matchlock]] [[arquebus]]es or [[wall gun]]s.<ref>Howard Ricketts, ''Firearms'' (1962)</ref>

====South Asia====
The [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] may have introduced muskets to Sri Lanka during their conquest of the coastline and lowlands in 1505, as they regularly used short barrelled matchlocks during combat. However, [[Paulus Edward Pieris Deraniyagala|P. E. P. Deraniyagala]] points out that the Sinhalese term for gun, 'bondikula', matches the Arabic term for gun, 'bunduk'. Also, certain technical aspects of the early Sri Lankan matchlock were similar to the matchlocks used in the Middle East, thus forming the generally accepted theory that the musket was not entirely new to the island by the time the Portuguese came. In any case, soon native Sri Lankan kingdoms, most notably the [[Kingdom of Sitawaka]] and the [[Kingdom of Kandy]], manufactured hundreds of Lankan muskets, with a unique bifurcated stock, longer barrel and smaller calibre, which made it more efficient in directing and using the energy of the gunpowder. These were mastered by the Sri Lankan soldiers to the point where, according to the Portuguese chronicler, Queirós, they could "fire at night to put out a match" and "by day at 60 paces would sever a knife with four or five bullets" and "send as many on the same spot in the target."<ref>Perera, C. Gaston. "Chapter V: Weapons Used, Firearms." Kandy Fights the Portuguese. Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2007. 83 to 102. Print.</ref>

====Middle East====
Despite initial reluctance, the [[Safavid Iran|Safavid Empire]] of [[Iran|Persia]] rapidly acquired the art of making and using handguns. A Venetian envoy, Vincenzo di Alessandri, in a report presented to the Council of Ten on 24 September 1572, observed:

{{Blockquote|They used for arms, swords, lances, arquebuses, which all the soldiers carry and use; their arms are also superior and better tempered than those of any other nation. The barrels of the arquebuses are generally six spans long and carry a ball little less than three ounces in weight. They use them with such facility that it does not hinder them drawing their bows nor handling their swords, keeping the latter hung at their saddle bows till occasion requires them. The arquebus is then put away behind the back so that one weapon does not impede the use of the other.{{sfn|Adle|2003|p=475}}}}

====Japan====
[[File:EdoJapaneseArquebuse.jpg|thumb|left|Various antique [[Tanegashima (Japanese matchlock)|Tanegashima]].]]

During the [[Sengoku period]] of Japan, arquebuses were introduced by Portuguese merchantmen from the region of [[Alentejo]] in 1543 and by the 1560s were being mass-produced locally.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=169}} By the end of the 16th century, the production of firearms in Japan reached enormous proportions, which allowed for a successful military operation in Korea during the [[Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)|Japanese invasions of Korea]]. Korean chief state councillor [[Yu Sŏngnyong]] noted the clear superiority of the Japanese musketeers over the Korean archers:

{{Blockquote|In the 1592 invasion, everything was swept away. Within a fortnight or a month the cities and fortresses were lost, and everything in the eight directions had crumbled. Although it was [partly] due to there having been a century of peace and the people not being familiar with warfare that this happened, it was really because the Japanese had the use of muskets that could reach beyond several hundred paces, that always pierced what they struck, that came like the wind and the hail, and with which bows and arrows could not compare.<ref>Firearms: A Global History to 1700 by Kenneth Chase</ref>|''Letter from [[Yu Sŏngnyong]]''}}

====China====
Arquebuses were imported by the [[Ming dynasty]] (1368–1644) at an uncertain point, but the Ming only began fielding matchlocks in 1548.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=171}} The Chinese used the term "bird-gun" to refer to arquebuses and Turkish arquebuses may have reached China before Portuguese ones.{{sfn|Chase|2003|p=144}} In Zhao Shizhen's book of 1598 AD, the ''Shenqipu'', there were illustrations of [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[Turkish people|Turkish]] musketeers with detailed illustrations of their muskets, alongside European musketeers with detailed illustrations of their muskets.{{sfn|Needham|1986|pp=447–454}} There was also illustration and description of how the Chinese had adopted the Ottoman kneeling position in firing while using European-made muskets,{{sfn|Needham|1986|pp=449–452}} though Zhao Shizhen described the Turkish muskets as being superior to the European muskets.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=444}} The ''[[Wu Pei Chih]]'' (1621) later described Turkish muskets that used a [[rack and pinion]] mechanism, which was not known to have been used in any European or Chinese firearms at the time.{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=446}}

====Korea====
[[File:Matchlock and Culverin displayed in Unhyeon Palace.jpg|thumb|Large Korean Jochong (Matchlock Musket) in [[Unhyeongung|Unhyeon Palace]] with Korean cannon [[Hongyipao]] (Culverin)]]

In Korea, the [[Joseon|Joseon dynasty]] underwent a devastating war with the newly unified Japan that lasted from 1592 to 1598. The shock of this encounter spurred the court to undergo a process of military strengthening. One of the core elements of military strengthening was to adopt the musket. According to reformers, "In recent times in China they did not have muskets; they first learned about them from the Wokou pirates in Zhejiang Province. Qi Jiguang trained troops in their use for several years until they [muskets] became one of the skills of the Chinese, who subsequently used them to defeat the Japanese."{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=183}} By 1607 Korean musketeers had been trained in the fashion which Qi Jiguang prescribed, and a drill manual had been produced based on the Chinese leader's ''Jixiao Xinshu''. Of the volley fire, the manual says that "every musketeer squad should either divide into two musketeers per layer or one and deliver fire in five volleys or in ten."{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=183}} Another Korean manual produced in 1649 describes a similar process: "When the enemy approaches to within a hundred paces, a signal gun is fired and a conch is blown, at which the soldiers stand. Then a gong is sounded, the conch stops blowing, and the heavenly swan [a double-reed horn] is sounded, at which the musketeers fire in concert, either all at once or in five volleys (齊放一次盡擧或分五擧)."{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=183}} This training method proved to be quite formidable in the 1619 [[Battle of Sarhu]], in which 10,000 Korean musketeers managed to kill many Manchus before their allies surrendered. While Korea went on to lose both wars against the Manchu invasions of [[Later Jin invasion of Joseon|1627]] and [[Qing invasion of Joseon|1636]], their musketeers were well respected by Manchu leaders. It was the first Qing emperor [[Hong Taiji]] who wrote: "The Koreans are incapable on horseback but do not transgress the principles of the military arts. They excel at infantry fighting, especially in musketeer tactics."{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=186}}

Afterwards, the [[Qing dynasty]] requested Joseon to aid in their border conflict with Russia. In 1654, 370 Russians engaged a 1,000-man Qing-Joseon force at the mouth of the [[Songhua River]] and were defeated by Joseon musketeers.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=193}} In 1658, five hundred Russians engaged a 1,400-strong Qing-Joseon force and were defeated again by Joseon musketeers.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=193-194}} Under the Three Branch System, similar to the Spanish [[Tercio]], Joseon organized their army under firearm troops (artillery and musketeers), archers, and pikemen or swordsmen. The percentage of firearms in the Joseon army rose dramatically as a result of the shorter training period for firearms. In addition, the sulphur mines discovered in Jinsan reduced the expense of producing gunpowder. Under the reign of [[Sukjong of Joseon]] (1700s), 76.4% of the local standing army in [[Chungcheong]] were musketeers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sillok.history.go.kr/url.jsp?id=ksa_13012028_003 |title=조선왕조실록 |language=ko|website=Sillok.history.go.kr |access-date=4 September 2016}}</ref> Under the reign of King [[Yeongjo]], Yoon Pil-Un, Commander of the Sua-chung, improved on firearms with the Chunbochong (천보총), which had a greater range of fire than the existing ones. Its usage is thought to have been similar to the Afghan [[jezail]] or American [[long rifle]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sillok.history.go.kr/url.jsp?id=kua_10509012_005 |title=조선왕조실록 |language=ko|website=Sillok.history.go.kr |access-date=4 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://sillok.history.go.kr/url.jsp?id=kua_10509013_002 |title=조선왕조실록 |language=ko|website=Sillok.history.go.kr |access-date=4 September 2016}}</ref>