Printing Press Dbq

The printing press was invented by the well-known Johannes Guttenberg in 1450’s. The idea of the printing press came from the Chinese which introduced Woodblock Printing in 600CE (BackGround Essay). The exploration of the Printing press idea was useful to the reformation of Guttenberg’s idea of the printing press, going from movable wooden types- To metal frames that wouldn’t wear out. The idea of Exploring the Printing press is a major key because without having the exploration of the printing press there would’ve been no reformation of it, to make it better. The purpose of this essay is to tell whether the Exploration or Reformation was the more important consequence.

The exploration of the printing press came from the Chinese who had Woodblock

printing in 600 CE which they experimented with movable wooden type that had 50,000 characters with the idea of carvings of each character was impossible (Background Essay). When the printing press was first known there was at least 15 printing presses in Europe but when the spread came across Europe there was about 200 Printing press in 1500 (Doc.A). According to the Background Essay, During the Middle-Ages Monks wrote manuscript books with pen and ink in a copying room known as a scriptorium. Even a small book could take months to complete. A book the size of the Bible could take several years and In 1455 Gutenberg printed 180 Bibles, each of them over 1800 pages long, which tells the beginning of writing and copying literature which contributes the idea of how useful the printing press was. For probably a million years or more, early mankind had depended on sign language for communicating. Then, about 25,000 years ago, man learned to speak. (Background Essay) This evidence from the Background essay states how the exploration of Language was reformed 25,000 ago. Exploring the Printing press was a significant factor that leads into the reformation of the Printing press.
Unlike ancient written languages of the Egyptians or Chinese, the alphabet represents sound and not ideas (Background Essay).

The reformation of the way things were copied and printed can go on to an extent. According to the map given Document C, in 1500 Europe was mainly Catholic and in 1560 Europe was divided into 2 religious type; Catholic and Protestant. Europe was influenced by religion with the help of the spread of literature from the use of the printing press. The bible was the biggest hit when it came to the Printing press. Before the printing press. Luther was unhappy with his church due to fact people would have indulgences to the church which indulgences were payments in return for pardons for one’s sin and grants of salvation in the after life. Martin Luther had posted 95 criticisms on the door of the Castle church in 1517 of October. (Doc.B). The Background essay stated that the Renaissance was underway with a surge of ideas breathing new life into painting, architecture, old classical literature, theatre, and much more with that thought the Renaissance was a reformation of the Middle-Ages. Another example of reformation and how it is an important consequence to the Printing press is in Document E with the World map comparison 1489 to 1507, which the map of 1507 has been nicknamed “America’s birth certificate” because it is the first known map to record the existence of the American continents (Doc.E). The Reformation had many

advantages.
Comparing both Exploration and Reformation which had more important consequences to the Printing press is balanced. Without the Exploration of the Printing press there would be no Reformation. The reformation of the printing press were the effects the Printing press had on society for an example the spread of literature by copying the bible much faster influence Europe from going to just Catholic to both Catholic and Protestantism. Without having to explore language their would’ve been no reformation to the new type of language that came known 25,000 years after mankind depended on sign language. The Printing press was a milestone event in evolution of human communication. The point is to prove how either or when in reality Reformation made things better from the exploration of those specific things like the Bible.