Image: fuelourcreativity

Everyone is familiar with newspapers but not everyone will know how it first came about.  Most people see it as a printed material containing news, feature articles, entertainment, advertisements, announcements, and editorials.  Newspapers can be published for local, national, or international consumption.

The first versions of newspapers were quite heavy since metal or stone carved with announcements was used as issued by the government of Ancient Rome.  China’s earliest newspapers were much lighter but was equally labor- intensive since announcements were handwritten on silk and read to the people by government officials.

Europe’s earliest newspaper versions were also handwritten.  They contained news about politics, military, and the economy to fill in the need for information.  All the early versions hardly resembled the newspapers we have now but it served a similar purpose during the time they were used.

The recognized very first printed newspaper is that of Johann Carolus of Germany, named Relation aller Fumemmem und gedenkwurdigen Historien.  It came out in 1605 and was followed by a Dutch publication in 1618.  The first newspaper in the English language came out in 1620.  Many countries such as France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Poland published their own soon after.

The Daily Courant which was first published in 1702 became the first successful English daily.  The Americans produced their first continuously published newspaper in 1704.  America claims however to a publication in 1690 by Benjamin Harris as its first newspaper although only one edition was published because it was not allowed by the government then.