The Armenian Diaspora's Secret Weapon: The Printing Press

The Story of Armenia: Survival Through Empires and Genocide — Fexingo History · Aug 20, 2026 · 8m · transcript

Long before the internet, the printing press became the Armenian diaspora's most powerful tool for survival. In this episode, Lucas and Luna trace the story of Armenian printing from its first press in Venice in 1512 to the community of Madras in 1772, where Hakob Shahamirian published his radical vision of an independent Armenia. Along the way, they encounter the Mkhitarist monks of San Lazzaro, the intellectual ferment of Constantinople, and the challenges of printing in a language with its own alphabet. How did a scattered people use ink and paper to preserve their identity, spread…