Printing press in Goa
Topic: Print Culture and the Modern World · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 5 "Print Culture and the Modern World"
Meaning
The first printing press in India came to Goa with Portuguese missionaries in the mid-16th century, usually dated to 1556. Missionaries used print to spread Christianity in local languages. So print reached India through the Portuguese, not the British.
Example
Jesuit priests in Goa printed tracts in Konkani. By 1674 about 50 books had been printed in the Konkani and Kanara languages. Catholic priests printed the first Tamil book at Cochin in 1579, and the first Malayalam book appeared in 1713.
Don't confuse with
- Hickey's Bengal Gazette (1780): the first newspaper in India, started by an Englishman in Calcutta. The Goa press printed religious books, not newspapers.