Imagined Communities: Reflections On The Origin And Spread Of Nationalism

The gradual decline in Europe of Latin as a sacred and universal language, of the unquestioned legitimacy of divinely-ordained monarchy, and of the conception of history as the embodiment of divine providence, created the possibility in Europe for imagining the national community. These cultural shifts occurred as a result of scientific and geographical discoveries, improved communications, and the growth of capitalism. In Chapter Three, Anderson emphasizes the critical role that print-capitalism played in the development of national consciousness. He identifies three elements that laid the groundwork for the new form of imagined community: the new technology of printing, the rapid expansion of the print market under capitalism, and the diversity of human languages. The convergence of these elements “set the stage for the modern nation” (46).

By the beginning of the 16thcentury, book-publishing had become one of the earliest and most successful forms of capitalist enterprise. Virtually all books were published in Latin and marketed to a broad but thin segment of the population, consisting primarily of the intelligentsia and clergy. By the middle of the 16thcentury, the market for Latin texts had become saturated and publishers turned to the potentially huge market for books written in

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