The long history of censorship

Censorship has followed the free expressions of men and women like a shadow through history. In ancient societies, such as those of Israel or China, censorship was considered a legitimate instrument for regulating the moral and political life of the population. In China, the first censorship law was introduced in 300 AD. The origin of the term censor in English can be traced to the office of censor established in Rome in 443 BC. In Rome, as in the ancient Greek communities, the ideal of good governance included shaping the character of the people. The most famous case of censorship in ancient times is that of Socrates, sentenced to drink poison in 399 BC for his corruption of youth and his acknowledgement of unorthodox divinities. But it is fair to assume that Socrates was not the first person to be severely punished for violating the moral and political code of his time. This ancient view of censorship, as a benevolent public service in the best interest of the people, is still upheld by countries such as China, as it was advocated by the rulers of the Soviet Union (USSR), responsible for the longest lasting and most extensive censorship of the 20th Century.

Free speech and freely expressed thoughts and ideas may have posed problems to pre-Christian rulers. Helpful measures to fend off a heretical threat to Christian doctrine were introduced, such as the Nicene Creed, promulgated in AD 325. But as more books were written, copied and increasingly widely disseminated, subversive and heretical ideas were spread beyond control. Consequently, censorship became more rigid and punishment more severe. The problem increased with the invention of the printing press in Europe in the middle of the 15th Century. Although printing greatly aided the Catholic Church and its mission, it also aided the Protestant Reformation and "heretics" such as Martin Luther, and so the printed book became an arena for a religious battle. In western history, the very term censorship takes on a whole new meaning with the introduction of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum - lists of books banned for their heretical or ideologically dangerous content, issued by the Roman Catholic Church, and with the Sacred Inquisition as the zealous guardians, banning and burning books and sometimes also the authors. The most famous of banned authors undoubtedly being Galileo in 1633. The most famous victims of the Inquisitions trials being Joan of Arc (1431) and Thomas More (1535).

The dual system of censorship created through the close alliance between church and state in Catholic countries, was also exported to the forcibly colonised countries in the Americas. "The Spanish authorities were not only worried about the religious situation in Europe, but also in America. The possibility that America could be invaded with ideas from protestant countries was considered a permanent threat." Notes the Peruvian historian Pedro Guibovich in his article The Lima Inquisition and Book Censorship.

The Inquisition established in Peru in 1568, was part of a colonial policy by Philip II of Spain, designed to deal with the political and ideological crisis in the Peruvian viceroyalty. The Peruvian system was a blueprint of the Spanish, entailing control of the import of books, the inquisitorial officers periodically examining ships and luggage in ports, inspecting libraries, bookstores and printing houses. When the Inquisition was established in Peru in 1569, the Tribunal's district ranged from Panama to Chile and Rio de La Plata.

Oppressive and sinister as the censorship executed by the Inquisition no doubt was to the peoples of the colonies of the Americas, hardly anything can compare to the devastating effect of the destruction by the Spanish invaders of the unique literature of the Maya people. The burning of the Maya Codex remains one of the worst criminal acts committed against a people and their cultural heritage, and no less a terrible loss to the world heritage of literature and language.

The importance of dissemination of information

As vital to dissemination of information as the art of printing was, was also the development of regular postal service. First established in France in 1464, the postal service soon became the most widely used transportation