Europe's First Paper Mill Opens in Islamic Spain

The first recorded paper mill on the Iberian Peninsula operated at Xàtiva, near Valencia, using the Albaida River for water power and local flax fields for fiber. Historians place its founding anywhere from 1056 to the mid-12th century; the 12th-century geographer al-Idrisi wrote that Xàtiva's paper was unmatched anywhere in the civilized world and was exported east and west. Papermaking in Europe stayed concentrated in Islamic Iberia for roughly two centuries before spreading into Christian territory.