Papyrus

Reeds from the Nile delta are sliced, layered, pressed, and dried into a manufactured writing surface. Egypt controlled production and export for millennia — the literate world depended on a river monopoly before parchment or paper offered alternatives.
 Egypt 3,000 BCE Papyrus

Reeds from the Nile delta are sliced, layered, pressed, and dried into a manufactured writing surface. Egypt controlled production and export for millennia — the literate world depended on a river monopoly before parchment or paper offered alternatives.