Eli5 why is aluminium not used as a material until relatively recently whilst others metals like gold, iron, bronze, tin are found throughout human history?

Question

Eli5 why is aluminium not used as a material until relatively recently whilst others metals like gold, iron, bronze, tin are found throughout human history?

In: 7474

Answer 1

Because converting the raw material (Bauxite) into something useful was not something that was easy or cheap until the Hall Heroilt process was discovered. It is the same with steel. Some of these processes are very energy intensive and industrializing them would have been impossible without electricity