In Germany, around the year 1440, a man named Gutenberg created a printing press that used assembled letters to create each page. After printing, the letters for each page could be separated and stored for use in creating a different page. This was a huge innovation.

Before the moveable-type press, at first people had to copy books by writing them out by hand. Then, later, they would print using a carved or engraved plate for each page. But this printing was still slow, and the plates would wear out. The moveable-type press allowed the printer to quickly make a page out of letters, print many copies, and then reuse the letters for a different page. This was faster and made many more books.

When Gutenberg invented the moveable-type press, he started the Printing Revolution. A single Renaissance-era movable-type printing press could produce up to 3,600 pages per workday, compared to forty by hand-printing and a few by hand-copying.

The movable-type press was soon used in over 200 cities in Europe. By 1600 BCA, presses in Europe had printed up to 200 million books.

This invention was made during Renaissance Period, which was a time of cultural revival and expansion in Europe The moveable-type press helped to spread the ideas of the Renaissance. It was the beginning of mass communication. This changed society forever. Idea could be communicated without restriction over great distances. The became threatening to the power of political and religious authorities. In particular, it spread the ideas of the Reformation, a movement that criticized corruption in the Catholic Church, which was hugely powerful at the time.

Many more people soon became literate, meaning that they became able to read. This allowed more middle-class and even poor people to become educated. The middle class, those people who were not poor peasants but not ruling aristocracy, began to gain power. Capitalism became a stronger economic force. This created a greater demand for books, which increased the need for the press.

Then, in the middle of the 1600s the moveable-type press began to be used in colonial North America. Text that was printed this way began to be known as “the press”.

Printed literature played a major role in rallying support, and opposition, during the lead-up to the English Civil War, and later still the American and French Revolutions through newspapers, pamphlets and bulletins. So it is safe to say that, over time, the moveable-type press changed history.

Source: Wikipedia