How Printing Press Changed the World – 6 Ways

 Invention of Printing Press

The printing press was a major technological invention of the second millennium. It was the most influential event in accelerating the spread of knowledge, as well as one of the most significant artifacts invented by mankind.

Around 1440, a German goldsmith named Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable-type printing press. This invention allowed for printing at a much faster rate than before and made it possible for books to be printed in large quantities for the first time. The movable-type printing press greatly increased literacy rates across Europe and beyond.


6 Ways the Printing Press Changed the World


1.It made access to the news an expectation.

One factor that prevented Gutenberg’s invention from being profitable initially was a lack of distribution networks. Other German printers realized this and moved to Venice, which was an established shipping hub in the late fifteenth century. Ships would leave Venice carrying literature and religious texts across the world. At ports, printers in Venice sold news pamphlets to sailors, who then shared them with local towns once they docked.


2.It advanced the Renaissance.

In the years leading up to the printing press, book owners had to copy texts by hand before they could read them. The advent of moveable type made this task much less time-consuming and labor intensive, as it reduced the cost of printing books substantially.


3.The first best-selling author emerged.

Martin Luther was the first writer to sell enough copies of his book to reach a place on the bestseller list. Published in 1517, his “95 Theses” marked a revolution in thinking about religion and ethics.


4.Science could advance faster.

The printing press was instrumental in the Scientific Revolution, which drastically changed every facet of daily life. Prior to the printing press, scientific and scholarly information was often only distributed verbally, in person or via handwritten notes. But the ability to make mass copies and distribute them quickly helped support the Scientific Revolution, and the scholars who read them could rest assured that they were getting accurate data.


5.New ideas and ways of thinking spread quickly.

The printing press enabled the rapid spread of information, and our current concern about fake news stems from this. Prior to the invention of the modern publishing industry, it was much easier for governments to take control of what people thought and what they read. But now that ideas could be printed cheaply and distributed quickly, new ideas were far harder to contain.


6.The job market landscape evolved.

The printing press opened the door for a new set of professionals to develop and gained new, in-demand professions. Printers rose through the labor structure as new artisans, while proofreaders and book design (layout) became new, in-demand professions.


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