Exploration or Reformation: Which Was the More Important Consequence of the Printing Press?
because
score: 9
Exploration was fueled by letters and pamphlets reporting on the opportunities that awaited European investors and pioneers thanks to the printing press.
Without the printing press, very few letters or documents would actually be printed. These documents have a great effect on those who read them. It inspires others to explore. Without the exploration of many, the world would be vastly different, geographically and culturally.
This exploration was boosted by the fact that in 1500 CE (just 8 years after Colombus' journey to the Americas) there were hundreds of printing presses in Europe. This allowed Colombus' letters to be printed for the masses to read and be inspired by them.
The printing press was not just used for official correspondences between the king & queen of spain and Columbus. What source did you use to prove that his letter was circulated/shared with others?
In Document D, there is a map. It holds production locations and languages. In 1493, Colombus' letter to the king and queen of Spain was published in the cities of Rome, Barcelona, and Paris and in the languages of Spanish, Latin, and French.
The printing press was very important because people needed maps of what they believed the world looked like, and if there was no printer, then all the maps would be different. The printing press gave people more access and made it easier for people to be able to share the same information.
The printing press could have manufactured the wrong maps, and have explores going the wrong places. Christopher Columbus thought that he was in the Indian Sea when he was actually in the Americas .
Even if a map was printed wrong, it would still encourage exploration. People would keep exploring and creating better, more accurate maps. They might not have always been right, but it still had the power to spread awareness.
The exploration was driven by the printing press. The printing press allowed several different documents to be printed and alerted the word about the opportunities that awaited individuals without the press no one would have been aware.
Without the printing press, the lutheran religion would have not have been able to grow at a steady rate. Martin Luther relied on the printing press to print 300,000 german bible which he relied on to spread him message.
The printing press created documents like maps, which sparked exploration and travel. People could use the information from the map to travel more easily and to know where they were going. Exploration helped people reach new parts of the world.
Even though many people did not need a map to get to the new world (a few maps were used by mariners), there were many other travel documents printed by the printing press that were helpful.
Since people mainly went off others' words things could have been lost in translation meaning the ships could have been misdirected as a result of maps not being accurate.
The printing press allowed Martin Luther's book to be produced in large amounts, his ideology and documents spread faster. The amount of people that followed this book also increased at a higher rate
Everyone got to see a different view on other people's religious beliefs now that religious text was more accessible and each country or religious community could share their own religious opinion.
Couldn't this cause less open-mindedness though? People could see other religions and believe that they were morally superior. This could cause wars, create great divides, and spread disinformation. Yes, many of it was Catholic, but "Catholic" regions were not solely Catholic practitioners.
People might see it as you said; but it would create opportunities for people to learn about other religions and open their minds to educate themselves about other them. If you don't learn about anything other than what you are used to then you cant grow
The Protestant Reformation was the most important consequence of the Printing Press because it helped Martin Luther go against the Catholic Church and get his ideas around all of Europe thus leading to the creation of the Lutheran language
The printing press was mainly through catholic regions and was spreading with the Protestant Reformation. Each country got to involve their religious ideas and thoughts and could spread them.
The printing press had a larger effect on the Reformation because people could print more of Martin Luthers ideas and this helped it spread faster and made this knowledge easier to access.