Landmines date back to 13th century when Song Dynasty of Chinese was fighting against the Mongols to save a city in the Southern China. The records of 14th century describe the use of cannonball shells of cast iron which were filled with gunpowder. The literature of mid 14th century when Yuan Dynasty was falling and Ming Dynasty was emerging records of cast iron made mines, that were spherical in shape and they had magic gunpowder, blinding and burning gunpowder or poison gunpowder filled in it as per the requirement.
The culture that made use of the landmines invented it when they required it. In Europe, Pedro Navarro invented land mines in the early 1500s. The designs made by Samuel Zimmerman of Germany were realized in 1600.
The landmines invented by the Chinese were lit simultaneously and created a bomb effect when they exploded below the soldier’s feet. The landmines that were invented later were easy to operate, the packing of the different composition of powder was made more effective and the explosion created was greater. The explosions were made to make more destruction and the landmines exploded hot showers of metals and sharp fragments in the air. These sharp fragments were as quick as bullets and caused a great impact of destruction to anyone whom it hit.
The statistics show that there are 110 million anti- personnel mines and 100 million in stock all over the world.
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