Hand cannon

A hand cannon or gonne (also spelled handgonne to distinguish the device from modern handguns) (Chinese: 手銃; Arabic: مدفع‎; Russian: пищаль) is one of the early forms of firearm. It is possibly the oldest type of small arms, as well as the simplest type of early firearm, as most examples require direct manual external ignition through a touch hole without any form of firing mechanism. It may also be considered a forerunner of the handgun. The hand cannon was widely used in East Asia and later throughout Europe until at least the 1520s, when it was supplanted by matchlock firearms.

In modern usage, the term hand cannon may also be used colloquially to refer to a pistol or revolver chambered for a powerful cartridge, such as the .454 Casull or .500 S&W Magnum. This term is also sometimes used to refer to a novelty toy gun known as "pocket artillery", a small cannon firing steel balls by means of a smokeless powder or a firecracker.

Origins

The general consensus is that hand cannons originated in China and were spread from there to the rest of the world. The earliest firearm was "discovered... in Manchuria dating from the 1200s," and the earliest artistic depiction of a hand cannon is a firearm-wielding figure that was found in twelfth-century Sichuan. The earliest reliable evidence of hand cannons in Europe comes from the 14th century, during which time both Europeans and Arabs appear to have begun using them. In East Asia, the Koreans acquired knowledge of the hand cannon from China in the 14th century. Japan was already aware of gunpowder warfare but did not mass-produce firearms until 1543, when the Portuguese introduced matchlocks known as tanegashima.