Historians rank the printing press among the most revolutionary technologies in all of history. Some may disagree, but many don’t know where we’d be right now if this great piece of technology had never been invented. Over the last 500 years, nothing has changed the way we communicate, and even spread religion or literature, as much as the Printing Press has done. At the time the printing press was invented, there had been no way to spread religion other than by word of the man or by holy books, which had to be handwritten.
It wasn’t until the printing press was invented that religious writings, such as Luther’s 95 thesis, could become widespread. As can be seen in a map of Europe in 1560, the Printing Press had accomplished the feat of spreading various religions all across Europe. What may arguably be the greatest thing that the Printing press has brought, is the rapid growth in literature. Go back in time to before the printing press- you had to be among one of the societies richest to be able to afford handwritten books. They were nearly nonexistant at the time.
When books could in fact be printed, it became extremely easier to mass produce literature of all types. Books such as ILIAD AND ODYSSEY, UTOPIA, and MICROGRAPGIA are among these great works of art in the world of literature that became famous due to the printing press. These works included knowledge of all sorts of topics. Math, science, and Philosophy were popular subjects which dominated bookshelfs around Europe. Another one of the crucial consequences of the printing press is how communication became much easier.
As you can see in a map of Europe in 1500, Printing Presses were all over Europe. These printing presses allowed communication to be spread all over the world, such as in America which was found by Columbus. So as you’ve seen, in these past 500 years, technology has increased greatly. Communication, literature, and religion have gone so far and have became so advanced. It all started from one Johannes Guutenburg, and an invention which changed the world.
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