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Ottoman authorities banned the production of Arabic/Turkish texts using the printing press in the 16th century. As a result, the first printed publication in th

by scythe 4y ago

Ottoman authorities banned the production of Arabic/Turkish texts using the printing press in the 16th century. As a result, the first printed publication in the Ottoman Empire was in Hebrew! This enormous act of self-sabotage probably kept the alphabets in the Muslim world from standardizing during the 1500s-1800s as the Europeans had, so variations in writing remained common. Pre-1400s texts from Europe look weird, too.

wara23arish 4y ago
Lebanese were printing in 1610 in both Arabic and Syriac. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_media_in_Lebanon#Press https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_media_in_Lebanon#Press The link actually says its the first publication in the middle east.
- scythe 4y ago
  One book was printed in 1610 — a book of psalms. The article goes on to say that one of the first printing presses in the region was founded in 1734. You can find a list of the presses here, note that there is a lot more being printed in Armenian and Hebrew than in Arabic or Turkish: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_spread_of_the_printing_press#Ottoman_Empire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_spread_of_the_printing_p... Even in Lebanon the presses were introduced by Maronites; the Islamic authorities were apparently not fans of the technology. You will also notice the presses in Safed from 1577; it's likely that your 1610 example is referring to the first book, specifically. (EDIT: it seems that this 1610 example was also operated by Christians. Perhaps I should have said "Muslims [the majority] were banned from the press.") Just for comparison, the first newspaper in Mexico started in 1539 (Mexico City), and the first in India in 1556 (Goa). The first book in the Ottoman Empire was printed in Constantinople in 1493. The Ottomans, then the largest empire in the world (until the Spanish conquest of Mexico), absolutely could have adopted printing a century before your date if they had just... wanted to. The list gives 1706 for the first continuously operated Arabic press in the Ottoman Empire at Aleppo.
  - wara23arish 4y ago
    Yeah Maronites weren’t exactly keen on the ottoman empire and would even oppose them and wage rebellions at times throughout history. I just felt the need to comment since I remember learning that factoid in my history class growing up and never had a chance to say it :)

by scythe 4y ago

wara23arish 4y ago

Lebanese were printing in 1610 in both Arabic and Syriac. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_media_in_Lebanon#Press https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_media_in_Lebanon#Press The link actually says its the first publication in the middle east.

scythe 4y ago
One book was printed in 1610 — a book of psalms. The article goes on to say that one of the first printing presses in the region was founded in 1734. You can find a list of the presses here, note that there is a lot more being printed in Armenian and Hebrew than in Arabic or Turkish: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_spread_of_the_printing_press#Ottoman_Empire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_spread_of_the_printing_p... Even in Lebanon the presses were introduced by Maronites; the Islamic authorities were apparently not fans of the technology. You will also notice the presses in Safed from 1577; it's likely that your 1610 example is referring to the first book, specifically. (EDIT: it seems that this 1610 example was also operated by Christians. Perhaps I should have said "Muslims [the majority] were banned from the press.") Just for comparison, the first newspaper in Mexico started in 1539 (Mexico City), and the first in India in 1556 (Goa). The first book in the Ottoman Empire was printed in Constantinople in 1493. The Ottomans, then the largest empire in the world (until the Spanish conquest of Mexico), absolutely could have adopted printing a century before your date if they had just... wanted to. The list gives 1706 for the first continuously operated Arabic press in the Ottoman Empire at Aleppo.
- wara23arish 4y ago
  Yeah Maronites weren’t exactly keen on the ottoman empire and would even oppose them and wage rebellions at times throughout history. I just felt the need to comment since I remember learning that factoid in my history class growing up and never had a chance to say it :)