Although India was the first region outside China to use paper and papermaking reached India as early as the 6th to 7th centuries, its use only became widespread in Northern India in the 13th century, and Southern India between the 15th and 16th centuries. However, it is not clear if this change can be attributed to the Delhi Sultanate, as 15th century Chinese traveler Ma Huan remarks that Indian paper was white and made from "bark of a tree", similar to the Chinese method of papermaking (as opposed to the Middle-Eastern method of using rags and waste material), suggesting a direct route from China for the arrival of paper.