When Was Saltpeter Discovered?

In 1783, Giuseppe Maria Giovene and Alberto Fortis together discovered a "natural nitrary" in a doline close to Molfetta, Italy, whose name is Pulo di Molfetta. The two scientists discovered that saltpeter formed inside the walls of the caves of the doline, under certain conditions of humidity and temperature.

How is saltpeter originally made?

Saltpetre was historically either collected from naturally occurring deposits in very limited geographic locations or, more usually, extracted from rotting organic material. Dung, urine and vegetable matter were stacked and allowed to ferment.

Where did people find saltpeter?

Saltpeter occurs as crystalline veins in soil in the Ganges Valley of India and as fluorescence on the soil in parts of Indonesia. It is gathered by dissolving the salt in water and evaporating the solution to obtain a salt.