Early Printing In Spain Research Paper

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Early Printing in Spain and the New World

What I hope to do in this paper is to show the influence and individuality of printing in Spain in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, from its inception to its significant direction in the early printing of books in New Spain (Mexico, Central America) and Latin America and to explore further, the idea of the printing press as a global networking system with the book as its essential commodity.
First, I will give a brief history of early printing in Spain, the evolving political landscape at the time and the influence it had on manuscript production, as I feel it is necessary to understand how that environment shaped not only printing, but also literacy in the New World. Followed by a discussion and outline of printing in colonial Spanish America and how books being printed there differed from early manuscripts in Europe. The essay concludes with a summary of how education and open dialogue has influenced the character and the direction of how books are made in these parts of the world today.

Spain
Compared to most places in Europe at the time, printing in Spain got a rather late start. It was introduced to Spain by German craftsmen in the year 1474, the same year that Isabella I, wife of Ferdinand of …show more content…

The kingdom of Naples, in the southern region of Italy is conquered by Ferdinand and annexed to Aragon around the turn of the century. Spain was led to contend with France for the dominion of Italy. In 1519, Charles lost his paternal grandfather and therein succeeded the Austrian territory, including the Netherlands and also added the Duchy of Milan to his domain and also acquired the territory that would eventually come to be known as the ‘New World.’ This was an enormous gain for Spain. Charles, now ‘Emperor Charles V,’ spent a lot of time away from Spain on vast European excursions to these newly acquired

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