Explain briefly the initial efforts made by foreigners to introduce printing press in India.
The printing press came to India with Portuguese missionaries in Goa in the mid-sixteenth century. Jesuit priests learnt Konkani and printed several tracts. By 1674, about 50 books had been printed in Konkani and Kanara languages. Books in different languages were printed as given below : In 1579 – First Tamil book was printed by Catholic priests at Cochin. In 1713 – Printing of first Malayalam book. By 1710 – Dutch Protestant missionaries had printed 32 Tamil texts, many of them were translations from older works. English printing : From 1780, James Augustus Hickey began to edit the Bengal Gazette, a weakly magazine that described itself as ‘a commercial paper open to all but influenced by none’. It was a private enterprise, proud of its independence from colonial influence. It was the beginning of English printing in India. By the end of eighteenth century, a number of newspapers and journals were being printed. Indians too began to publish newspaper. Weekly Bengal Gazette was the first to be brought out by Gangadhar Bhattacharya.
