What is typography?

Typography is the art and techniques of arranging and modifying type. That ’s the technical definition, but what is typography to me? I think of typography as an art used to communicate. Imagine a world without typography? Magazines without words? Typography is performed by various people such as web designers, graphic designers, layout artist, art directors etc. When I first started studying graphic design I never knew typography truly plays a vast amount of importance in ones design. Choosing a crappy font can change your design completely, making it less attractive and rather disturbing to people in that field of study. The font hated by most people is Comic sans but my personal favourites are Helvetica, Century gothic and Gill Sans. I would really like to know the history and how it began. I've heard that type was formed from pictographs and symbols. My key intention is to learn and study more about typography, not just its history, but why it is so important to people and in design.