List of the oldest newspapers

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A 1609 title page of the German Relation, the world's first newspaper (first published in 1605)^[1]

This list of the oldest newspapers sorts the newspapers of the world by the date of their first publication. The earliest newspapers date to 17th century Europe when printed periodicals began rapidly to replace the practice of hand-writing newssheets. The emergence of the new media branch has to be seen in close connection with the simultaneous spread of the printing press from which the publishing press derives it name.^[2]

Definition

A 2000 German postage stamp commemorating the 350th anniversary of Einkommende Zeitungen, the first daily newspaper.

Newspapers − apart from being printed − are typically expected to meet four criteria:^[3]

• Publicity: Its contents are reasonably accessible to the public.
• Periodicity: It is published at regular intervals.
• Currency: Its information is up to date.
• Universality: It covers a range of topics.

List

The following entries present a selection:

Europe

Avisa Relation oder Zeitung, the second oldest newspaper

Ordinari Post Tijdender, the world's oldest newspaper still published (since 1645).

Date	Newspaper	Language	Place	Country/Region	Notes
1605[4]	Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien	German	Straßburg	Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation	World's first newspaper[1]
1609[4]	Avisa Relation oder Zeitung	German	Wolfenbüttel	Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation
1610[4]	n.s.	German	Basel	Switzerland (Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation)[5]
1615[4]	n.s.	German	Frankfurt	Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation
1617[4]	n.s.	German	Berlin	Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation
1618[4]	Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c.	Dutch	Amsterdam	Dutch Republic (Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation)[6][7][8][9]	Considered the world's first broadsheet because it was published in folio instead of quarto-size size. Defunct 1664
1645	Ordinari Post Tijdender	Swedish	Stockholm	Sweden	Oldest still published newspaper in the world.[10]
1656[11]	Weeckelycke Courante van Europa	Dutch	Haarlem	Dutch Republic (The Netherlands)	The named was changed to Oprechte Haerlemsche Courant in 1664. The newspaper merged with the Haarlems Dagblad in 1942, which is still published.
1661[11]	Merkuriusz Polski Ordynaryjny	Polish	Kraków	Poland	Moved to Warsaw in May 1661, last issues published 22 July 1661.
1664	Gazzetta di Mantova	Italian	Mantua	Province of Mantua	Still published
1665[12]	Oxford Gazette	English	Oxford	England	From issue 24 in 1666, the paper was printed in London and renamed London Gazette;[13] still published
1703	Wiener Zeitung	Austrian	Vienna	Austria	still published
1705	Hildesheimer Relations-Courier	German	Hildesheim	Germany	Oldest surviving in newspaper in Germany, nowadays published as Hildesheimer Allgemeine Zeitung
1737	The Belfast News Letter	English	Belfast	Northern Ireland	Still published - oldest English-language daily newspaper still in existence
1749	Berlingske Tidende	Danish	Copenhagen	Denmark	Still published. Originally titled Kjøbenhavnske Danske Post-Tidender and, as of 2011, published as Berlingske
1767	Adresseavisen	Norwegian	Trondheim	Norway	Still published. Originally titled Kongelig allene privilegerede Trondheims Adresse-Contoirs Efterretninger
1785	The Times	English	London	England	Still published
1817	The Scotsman	English	Edinburgh	Scotland	Still published

Americas

First issue of the New England Courant, the oldest newspaper in the Americas

First edition of Diario de Pernambuco, the oldest continuously circulating daily in Latin America (since 1825)

Date	Newspaper	Language	Place	Country/Region	Notes
1704	The Boston News-Letter	English	Boston, Massachusetts	Thirteen Colonies	Defunct
1721	The New-England Courant	English	Boston, Massachusetts	Thirteen Colonies	Defunct
1756	The New Hampshire Gazette	English	New Hampshire	Thirteen Colonies	Still published; oldest extant North American paper
1764	Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph	English	Québec, Quebec	British North America	Still published; oldest surviving North American paper with continuous corporate existence
1764	The Hartford Courant	English	Hartford, Connecticut	Thirteen Colonies	Still published
1785	The Augusta Chronicle	English	Augusta, Georgia	United States	Still published
1786	Daily Hampshire Gazette	English	New Hampshire	United States	Still published
1786	Pittsburgh Post-Gazette	English	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	United States	Still published
1789	The Berkshire Eagle	English	Pittsfield, Massachusetts	United States	Still published
1792	The Recorder	English	Greenfield, Massachusetts	United States	Still published
1794	Rutland Herald	English	Rutland, Vermont	United States	Still published. The Herald is the oldest family-owned newspaper in continuous operation, published under the same name in the same city, in the United States.
1796	Norwich Bulletin	English	Norwich, Connecticut	United States	Still published
1792	The Keene Sentinel	English	Keene, New Hampshire	United States	Still published
1801	New York Post	English	New York City, New York	United States	Still published
1803	The Post and Courier	English	Charleston, South Carolina	United States	Still published
1825	El Peruano	Spanish	Lima	Peru	Still published
1825	Diario de Pernambuco	Portuguese	Recife	Brazil	Still published. Oldest continuously circulating daily newspaper in Latin America[14] and oldest continuously circulating periodical edited in Portuguese.
1827	El Mercurio de Valparaíso	Spanish	Valparaíso	Chile	Still published
1829	The Post-Standard	English	Syracuse, New York	United States	Still published
1898	Le Nouvelliste	French	Port-au-Prince, Ouest	Haiti	Still Published

Africa

The British established the first newspaper in Africa in Cape Town in 1800, after capturing the Cape Colony from the Dutch.

Date	Newspaper	Language	Place	Country/Region	Notes
1800	Cape Town Gazette and African Advertiser	English, Dutch	Cape Town	British South Africa	First newspaper in South Africa. Published weekly from 1800-08-16 to at least 1829 by the British Government in South Africa.
1824	South African Commercial Advertiser	English, Dutch	Cape Town	British South Africa	First privately run newspaper in South Africa. Numbers 1 to 18 were published weekly from 1824-01-07 to 1824-05-10. numbers 19 to 135 were printed from 1825-08-31 to 1827-03-10 and numbers 136 and onward were printed from 1828 to-10-03 to 1853. Originally edited by the printer George Greig who soon relinquished editing control to Thomas Pringle and John Fairbairn. Pringle left the paper after number 19.
1824	South African Journal	English	Cape Town	British South Africa	A bimonthly journal edited by Thomas Pringle and John Fairbairn. Published from 1824-03-05 to 1824-05-07.
1824	Nederduitsche Zuid-Afrikaanse Tydschrift	Dutch	Cape Town	British South Africa	A bimonthly journal edited by Reverend Abraham Faure. It was the Dutch partner to the South African Journal. Published from 1824-04-04.
1824	The South African Chronicle and Mercantile Advertiser	English, Dutch	Cape Town	British South Africa	Printed weekly from 1824-08-18 to 1826-12-26. Printed by William Bridekirk and edited by A. J. Jardine.
1826	The New Organ	English, Dutch	Cape Town	British South Africa	Only one edition printed on 1826-01-06. Printed by George Greig and edited by John Fairbairn.
1827	De Versamelaar	English, Dutch	Cape Town	British South Africa	Printed weekly from 1827-01-07 until between 1829-01-27 to 1835. Edited by J. Duasso de Lima and printed by William Bridekirk.
1827	The Colonist	English, Dutch	Cape Town	British South Africa	Printed weekly from 1827-11-22 to 1828-09-30 by William Bridekirk and then George Greig and edited by William Beddy.

Far East

Inaugural issue of the North China Herald, August 3, 1850.

Date	Newspaper	Language	Place	Country/Region	Notes
1806[15]	The Prince of Wales Island Gazette	English	Penang	British Malaya	First newspaper in Southeast Asia;[15] last issue rolled off the press on 7 July 1827; weekly edition survived until January 1830.
1845[16][17]	The Straits Times	English	Singapore	Straits Settlements	Split into The Straits Times (based in Singapore) and The New Straits Times (based in Kuala Lumpur) after Singapore's separation from Malaysia in 1965.
1850[18]	North China Herald (North China Daily News)	English	Shanghai	China	A weekly newspaper at first, it began daily publication in 1864 under the new name North China Daily News. Ceased publication in 1951.
1861[19]	Nagasaki Shipping List and Advertiser	English	Nagasaki	Japan	Country's first newspaper[19]
1881[19]	Chosen shinpo	Japanese	Pusan	Korea	Country's first newspaper[19]
1883 (1886)[20]	Hanseong sunbo (Hanseong Jubo)	Chinese, Korean	Seoul	Korea

South Asia

The first recorded attempt to found a newspaper in South Asia was by William Bolts, a Dutchman in the employ of the British East India Company in September 1768 in Calcutta. The Company deported Bolts back to Europe before he could begin his newspaper.^[21]

Date	Newspaper	Language	Place	Country/Region	Notes
1780	Hicky's Bengal Gazette or, The Original Calcutta General Advertiser	English	Calcutta	British India	First newspaper in South Asia. Published weekly from 1780-01-29 to 1782-03-23 when James Augustus Hicky's types were seized.
1780	India Gazette or Calcutta Public Advertiser	English	Calcutta	British India	Second newspaper in South Asia. Published weekly from 1780-11-18. Survived until 1834. Published by Peter Reed (until 1781), B. Messink (until 1793), G. Gordon (1793 to before 1799) In 1799, its proprietors were William Morris, William Fairlie and J. D. Williams.
1784	Calcutta Gazette	English	Calcutta	British India	Third newspaper in South Asia. Government sanctioned. Published weekly from 1784-03-04 to 1818-09-29. Its proprietors were Francis Gladwin, an East India Company Officer until January 1787 and Arthur Muir, Herbert Harrington and Edmond Morris afterwards.
1785	Bengal Journal	English	Calcutta	British India	Published weekly from 1785-02 to 1791. Its proprietors were William Duane and Thomas Jones.
1785	The Oriental Magazine or Calcutta Amusement	English	Calcutta	British India	Published monthly from 1785-04-06. It's proprietors were Gordon and John Hay. It ceased publication sometime prior to 1799-05, when Governor-General Wellesley enacted press regulations.
1785	The Asiatick Miscellany	English	Calcutta	British India	Published quarterly from 1785-07-14 to 1789-01. It's proprietor was Francis Gladwin.
1785	Madras Courier	English	Madras	British India	Published weekly at first from 1785-10-12 to around 1818. It's proprietor was Richard Johnson and was government sanctioned.
1786	Calcutta Chronicle and General Advertiser	English	Calcutta	British India	Published weekly from 1786-01 to either 1790 or 1797. It's proprietor was William Baillie.
1788	The Asiatic Mirror and Commercial Advertiser	English	Calcutta	British India	Published weekly at first from 1788-02 to 1820-05. It's proprietors were C.K. Bruce and Dr. Shoolbred.
1789	Bombay Herald	English	Bombay	British India	Published weekly from 1789 to 1792. It's proprietors are unknown.

See also

• List of newspapers
• List of early-modern journals

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Weber 2006, p. 396; World Association of Newspapers: "Newspapers: 400 Years Young!"
2. ^ Weber 2006, p. 387: "At the same time, then, as the printing press in the physical, technological sense was invented, 'the press' in the extended sense of the word also entered the historical stage. The phenomenon of publishing was born."
3. ^ Weber 2006, p. 387; "Margarete Rehm: Information und Kommunikation in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Das 17. Jh." (in German). http://www.ib.hu-berlin.de/~wumsta/infopub/textbook/umfeld/rehm5.html. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Weber 2006, p. 396f.
5. ^ A Brief Survey of Swiss History
6. ^ Although the Dutch Republic declared itself independent from the Spanish Empire in 1581 (J Ph de Monté ver Loren, J. E. Spruit, Hoofdlijnen uit de ontwikkeling der rechterlijke organisatie in de Noordelijke Nederlanden tot de Bataafse omwenteling, Kluwer, 2000, blz. 249, ISBN 9789026827396), it was not internationally recognized before 1648 (Price, J. L.: "The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century", Palgrave Macmillan, 1998, ISBN 978-0-312-21733-4, p. 22)
7. ^ Most European countries did not recognize the Netherlands until 1648 (Ellen Judy Wilson, Peter Hanns Reill: Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment, Infobase Publishing, 2004, ISBN 978-0-8160-5335-3, p. 604
8. ^ Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, New York, Henry Holt and Company, 1923: Historical map of Germany at the commencement of the Thirty Years' War, 1618
9. ^ Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, New York, Henry Holt and Company, 1923: The Religious Situation in Central Europe about 1618 (boundary of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in dashed lines
10. ^ "World's Oldest Newspaper Goes Purely Digital". Associated Press 2007.
11. ^ ^{a b} "Weeckelycke Courante van Europa". Museum Enschedé. Koninklijke Joh. Enschedé. 8 January 1656. http://www.museumenschede.nl/?id=75#1. 
12. ^ London Gazette (1). 7 November 1665. 
13. ^ London Gazette (24). 5 February 1666. 
14. ^ http://basilio.fundaj.gov.br/pesquisaescolar/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=237&Itemid=183
15. ^ ^{a b} Geoff Wade. "New Ways of Knowing: The Prince of Wales Island Gazette - Penang's First Newspaper". Presented at The Penang Story International Conference 2002. http://penangstory.net.my/docs/Abs-GeoffWade.doc. Retrieved 2010-08-31. "It is to Penang that the "honour" of being the site of the first newspaper published in Southeast Asia – the Prince of Wales Island Gazette – belongs." 
16. ^ The Straits Times. "About Us". The Straits Times. http://www.straitstimes.com/About%2BUs/About%2BUs.html. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
17. ^ New Straits Times. "Corporate History 1845-1896". New Straits Times. http://www.nstp.com.my/Corporate/nstp/aboutus/aboutHstory.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-31. 
18. ^ Xiaoqun Xu. Chinese Professionals and the Republican State: The Rise of Professional Associations in Shangahai, 1912–1937. Cambridge University Press, 2001. p. 45.
19. ^ ^{a b c d} Altman 1984, p. 685: "The parallel to the Chosen shinpo in Japan had been Japan's first newspaper in any language, the English-language Nagasaki Shipping List and Advertiser, published by an Englishman, Albert W. Hansard, from June 1861."
20. ^ McGovern 1967, pp. 21
21. ^ Busteed, H. E. Echoes from Old Calcutta: Being Chiefly Reminiscences of the Days of Warren Hastings, Francis and Impey. 2d ed. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink And Co., 1888, 182.]

Sources

• Altman, Albert A. (1984), "Korea's First Newspaper: The Japanese Chosen shinpo", The Journal of Asian Studies 43 (4): 685–696 
• McGovern, Melvin (1967), "Early Western Presses in Korea", Korea Journal: 21–23 
• Weber, Johannes (2006), "Strassburg, 1605: The Origins of the Newspaper in Europe", German History 24 (3): 387–412