CoP1 Lecture 5: Chronologies 3: Print

Print was probably one of the most important inventions in history, it completely changed the world. 
Before print people would only know their small surroundings, stories they would hear would come from word of mouth and probably wrong by the time it got around, like Chinese whispers. 

Printing was first introduced in Japan in 200BC, it took 300 years to get to China. That shows how slow getting things around were. China printed on material because it was more durable and easily transported. Printing then started in 1400BC which is quite a long time to get there. 

Religion was really the only thing printed at that time, everyone was involved in it. 

When the Gutenberg press was invented in the 1450's it meant that type and print was a lot more accessible. Anything could be printed, it meant that stories that were being told weren't being changed as they travelled. What was printed was untouchable and probably believed. The press made literacy develop because people needed to learn how to read. 

With the fast production rates of the press, 3,600 prints a day meant that knowledge was spreading out to more people and knowledge is power. So with that politics changed, society changed, there was hierarchies, Democracy and freedom of speech developed, Capitalism developed splitting people into classes of who can read and who can't.