![[Printer_in_1568-ce.png]] But we're not there yet. Let's return to Europe and see how they got to the place where they were capable of invading other continents across the ocean. While Pachacuti was beginning to build the Inca Empire, a German goldsmith named Johannes Gutenberg was developing a system for mass-producing type that could be moved about to create printed pages. Building on Chinese wood-block printing, in the 1430s and 1440s, Gutenberg began casting individual letters out of lead and arranging them in a hand mold. He also developed an oil-based ink that transferred cleanly to paper and a screw press (adapted from olive oil and wine presses) that applied even pressure. ![[Gutenberg_Bible.jpg]] By 1455, Gutenberg was able to pull all these elements together and printed his most famous product, a Bible that was so perfect that its readers couldn't tell whether it had been hand-lettered or printed. Gutenberg produced 180 copies of this Bible and set off a revolution in Europe. In the fifty years after his breakthrough, more than 20 million books were printed throughout Europe. ----- Next: [[14.14 - Ottomans]] Back: [[14.12 - Pachacuti]]