Some of the most famous are Alexander Wilson & Thomas Melville (U-Glasgow), who made the 1st recorded weather experiments using kites in 1749, Benjamin Franklin (USA), and De Romas (France) begin conducting electrical experiments with kites in 1752-3. However, it was the use of kites by physicists and meteorologists that spurred the development of kites for scientific purposes. In the 18th century, kites continued to increase in popularity among children. Each area developed a distinctive style of kite and cultural purpose for flying them. The Chinese General Han Hsin of the Han Dynasty flew a kite over the walls of a city he was attacking to measure how far his army would have to tunnel to reach past the defenses.īy the 13 th Century, kite flying had spread by traders from China to Korea and across Asia to India and the Middle East. The earliest written account of kite flying is in China in 200 BC, supporting China’s claim to the origin of the kite. There is some debate on whether this reference is considered a kite. In 450 BC, famous Chinese philosopher Mo-tse spent three years carefully crafting a wooden bird to fly on a tethered line.

Anthropological evidence suggests that kites may have been independently developed in other areas, but these claims are not well documented.

Other evidence suggests that kites were used by cultures in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the South Pacific as fishing instruments made of natural materials like leaves and reeds. Many scholars believe that they were developed in China.

The kite book