The invention of the balloon was almost a casual affair, unrelated to other contemporary inventions and unheralded by prior developments. The hot-air balloon could have been invented at any time since the mastery of thin textile manufacture, which can be dated well before the Christian era. The hydrogen balloon could not have come about until after Cavendish had isolated the gas in 1766. As it finally turned out, both types of balloon were invented in the year 1783.