The Invention of the Printing Press

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The Printing Press was an invention that catapulted the world into the communication field, as it was the first of its kind to ever print words onto paper. Invented by Johannes Gutenberg in 1440, it was truly a technological innovation. Gutenberg’s design was so important due to his development of replacing wood with metal to print each letter on paper. The first book ever printed on the device was the Bible, which makes sense to me since it was so universally known to those across Europe and the world. It is estimated that he printed around 180 copies of the Bible, each with 1300 pages. After researching this, i was left wondering how long that would have taken for the device to print so many pages. Since the device was new in the olden days, i'm assuming it must have taken a while. Now with the printers in the 21st century, printing that many pages would only take an hour or so, but i'm sure it took much longer with Gutenberg’s invention.  

The news of the printing press spread like wildfire in Europe. It was first developed in Germany, but then later was sent to Italy after it was made known. German printers came and set the press up, as they were the only ones who truly knew how to work the invention. They then moved onto Paris to implement the printing press there, and so forth. The printing press was developed and placed in several countries including England and Belgium, up until the death of Gutenberg in 1491. With words come power, however, and in 15th century Europe this was an issue.
Religion was always the basis of everything within the early ages, as it shaped the behaviors and actions of society. Once the Church found out about the printing press, they had to make sure everything printed was up to their standard through church approval. In an age when religion was developing to Lutheranism, Calvinism, and more, the printing press was an innovation that religious leaders saw as a way to spread their messages through print. Books were published on the basis of these religions, leading to fears from main religious affiliations such as Catholicism. In my opinion, I think the printing press allowed people to get their points across and their voices heard during this time. Even though it may have created conflict between different religions, it still permitted people to be in their own power and start conversations.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51034
https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/printing-press

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