Lithium was discovered in 1817 by Swedish chemist Johan August Arfwedson. He detected the presence of a new element while analyzing the mineral petalite, which was found in a mine on the Swedish island of Utö. The discovery was made in Stockholm, Sweden. The mineral petalite containing lithium had actually been discovered earlier in 1800 by Brazilian chemist José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva on the island of Utö, but Arfwedson was the first to identify lithium as a new element from this mineral.