Communication · 1605

Printed newspaper

A Strasbourg printer publishes weekly news, and the periodical press begins.

Johann Carolus's Relation, printed weekly in Strasbourg from 1605, is recognised as the first newspaper; news arrived by post routes and was set in type. Within a century papers had spread across Europe, creating public opinion as a political force.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

Imperial post (Thurn und Taxis) 1490
Movable-type printing press 1440

What it led to 1

Scientific journal 1665

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Literacy rate, England/UK since 1475 Latest: 98.5 % (1950) Source: Our World in Data

New book titles per million people, UK Latest: 2.11k titles per million (2009) Source: Our World in Data

Literate share of the world Latest: 87.7 % (2024) Source: Our World in Data