In the past, creating books
or publications is done manually—words and pictures are copied by hand. As
such, the books were sold at a very high price. But one man changed that all:
Johannes Gutenberg. His introduction of the printing press in 1445 forever
changed people’s lives. Books can now be produced as quickly as possible and
sold at a much lower cost.
This has prompted the
educated middle class who can afford books to demand for more and more books,
and this time they want it printed in their own languages. They also demanded
for a great variety of books such as poetry, travel books, and almanacs. People
also started exploring science and medicine, which brought about the fame of
the men of science like Newton and Copernicus. As the
demand grew, so does the book trade. The result is a more educated population
and a stronger economy.
Gutenberg’s press did
helped fuel the economy especially the paper making industry. It has a started
an information revolution, similar to the one we experienced when the internet
was introduced. Books and information became widely available signaling the end
of the Dark
Ages and the advent of the Renaissance. This change
made Europe the leading world power from then until now.
But in the present time where globalization is encouraged, capitalism and monopoly discouraged, it is likely that the trend might change. As we can see, China continued to soar higher to the world's top economies along with other Asian countries.
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