People always needed an exchange of information. That is why the history of mail began long before the advent of writing and letters familiar to a modern person. In ancient times, a voice was used to transmit news. This method persisted in some regions until the Middle Ages. For example, in the Inca empire for many centuries there were messengers who spread the news from the capital, moving around the country through a network of branched mountain roads. Later they began to use a nodular letter, in which cords and threads acted as the information carrier.
Cuneiform tablets
The first writing system in the classical sense of the word is cuneiform writing. With its appearance, about 3 thousand years BC. e. the history of mail has moved to a fundamentally new level. Cuneiform writing spread among the peoples of ancient Mesopotamia: Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Hittites.
Messages were displayed with a wooden stick on clay tablets, while the clay remained soft. Due to the specific instrumentation, characteristic wedge-shaped strokes arose. Envelopes for such letters were also made of clay. To read the message, the addressee had to break the "packaging".
The ancient history of mail has long remained virtually unknown. A great contribution to her study was made by the opening of the library of the last great king of Assyria, Ashurbanipal, who ruled in the 7th century. BC e. By his order, an archive of 25 thousand clay tablets was created. Among cuneiform texts were both government documents and ordinary letters. The library was opened in the 19th century. Thanks to a unique find, it was possible to decrypt cryptography, which was previously incomprehensible to translators.
Seashells and drawings
Huron Indians costed beads from shells. They were stringed and so received whole letters. Each plate had a specific color. Black means death, red means war, yellow means tribute, etc. The ability to read such colored belts was considered a privilege and wisdom.
The history of mail has passed and the "illustrated" stage. Before writing letters, people learned to draw. The cave paintings of the ancients, samples of which are still found in remote caves today, are also a kind of mail that went to the modern addressee for generations. The language of drawings and tattoos is still preserved among isolated Polynesian tribes.
Alphabet and Sea Mail
The ancient Egyptians had their own unique writing system. In addition, they developed pigeon mail. The Egyptians used hieroglyphs to transmit information. Much less known is the fact that it was this people who created the first prototype of the alphabet. Among the numerous hieroglyphs-drawings, hieroglyphs appeared that conveyed sounds (there were 24 in all).
In the future, this principle of encryption was developed by other peoples of the Ancient East. The first proper alphabet is considered to be the alphabet that appeared in the city of Ugarit on the territory of modern Syria around the 15th century. BC e. Then a similar system spread to other Semitic languages.
The Phoenicians had their own alphabet. This merchant nation became famous for its skillful shipbuilders. The sailors delivered mail to numerous colonies in different parts of the Mediterranean. On the basis of the Phoenician alphabet, Aramaic and Greek alphabets emerged, from which almost all modern writing systems originate.
Angarion
Angarion is an ancient Persian postal service created in the empire of the Achaemenids in the VI century. BC e. It was founded by King Cyrus II the Great. Prior to this, mail delivery from one end of the state to the other could last for months, which categorically did not suit the authorities.
In the time of Cyrus, hangars appeared (the so-called horse couriers). The postal service of that era gave the first sprouts of military field mail, which exists today. The longest road of the hangar stretched from Suz to Sardis, and its length was 2500 kilometers. The huge route was divided into a hundred stations at which horses and couriers changed. With the help of this effective system, the Persian kings freely transferred orders to their satraps in the most distant provinces of the vast empire.
Under the successor of Cyrus II, Darius I, the Tsar’s road was built, the quality of which turned out to be so high that Alexander the Great, Roman emperors and even Charles I, who ruled the medieval Frankish Empire in the 9th century, used the example of its organization (and generally the anharion) in its state.
Roman era
As noted above, the Roman history of mail and letters was much like the Persian one. In the republic, and later in the empire, there was a parallel state and private messaging system. The latter was based on the activities of numerous messengers who were hired (or used as slaves) by wealthy patricians.
At the peak of its power, the Roman Empire encompassed colossal territories in three parts of the world. Thanks to a unified network of branched roads, already in the 1st century AD, it was possible to send a letter with confidence from Syria to Spain or from Egypt to Gaul. The small stations where the horses changed were arranged at a distance of only a few kilometers. Packages were transported by horse couriers, carts were used for luggage.
The fastest and most efficient state mail was available only for official correspondence. Later, special permits were issued for using this system to traveling officials and Christian priests. The prefect prefect close to the emperor was in charge of state mail, and from the 4th century - the master of official offices.
Medieval europe
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the old postal system collapsed. Messages began to be delivered with great difficulty. The borders, the absence and desolation of roads, crime and the disappearance of a single centralized power interfered. Mailing became even worse with the advent of feudalism. Large landowners often levied huge tolls on their territory, which greatly complicated the activities of couriers.
The only centralized organization in Europe in the early Middle Ages was the church. Monasteries, archives, churches and administrative bodies needed a constant exchange of information in the vast majority of politically fragmented Europe. Whole spiritual orders began to take up the organization of mail. Often, important correspondence in the Old World was carried by wandering monks and priests, whose cassock and spiritual status were often the best means of protection from troubles with strangers.
Their corporations of messengers arose at universities, where students from all over the world flocked. The couriers of educational institutions of Naples, Bologna, Toulouse and Paris were especially famous. They maintained contact between students and their families.
Most of all, merchants and artisans needed mail. Without the exchange of written messages with their partners, they could not establish trade and marketing of products. Separate merchant mail corporations sprang up around guilds and other merchant associations. The standard of such a system was created in Venice, whose trade contacts connected the medieval republic not only with all of Europe, but also with distant countries on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea.
In Italy and Germany, where the institute of free cities was formed, effective urban mail became widespread. Mainz, Cologne, Nordhausen, Breslavl, Augsburg, etc. had their own experienced messengers. They delivered both letters from the administration and parcels of ordinary residents who paid for the service at a certain tariff.
Coachmen and threes
Thanks to the “Tale of Tsar Saltan” by Alexander Pushkin, everyone in childhood heard the phrase: “A messenger is riding with a letter”. Domestic mail arose during the period of Kievan Rus. The need for a correspondence exchange system has always been relevant for our country because of its vast territories. Colossal distances for Western Europeans were reflected in the norms characteristic of Russian messengers and incredible for foreigners.
During the time of Ivan the Terrible, tsarist couriers were required to travel a hundred kilometers a day, which was difficult to explain to foreign observers. In the XIII - XVIII centuries. postal stations in Russia were called pits. They kept horses and worked inns.
There was also the so-called Yaman service. It extended to the provincial tax population. Peasants serving their duties were supposed to organize transportation of government officials, goods and diplomats. This tradition was spread by the Tatar-Mongols during their yoke over the Eastern Slavic principalities. In the XVI century, the Yamskoy order appeared in the Russian state. This analogue of the Ministry was engaged not only in postal, but also in tax matters. A short phrase: “A messenger rides with a letter” can hardly convey the complexity of courier business in medieval Russia.
About two hundred years ago the famous three-horse carts of the three horses appeared. They were specially equipped for traveling long distances. Squatting horses located on the sides galloped, and the central root was trotting. Thanks to this configuration, the speed limit for its time of 45-50 kilometers per hour was achieved.
From stagecoaches to railways and steamboats
Centralized systems of royal mail appeared in England, Sweden, France and other developed countries in the XVI-XVII centuries. At the same time, the need for international communication was growing.
At the turn of the Middle Ages and the New Age, stagecoaches spread in England. This mail carriage gradually replaced the plain horse couriers. In the end, she conquered the world and appeared in all parts of the world from Australia to America. The arrival of the postal crew in the city or village was reported using a special horn.
Another turning point in the development of communication systems occurred at the beginning of the 19th century with the advent of shipping and railways. A new type of water transport has established itself in the organization of British-Indian mail. Especially to facilitate travel to the east, the British sponsored the construction of the Suez Canal in Egypt, thanks to which ships could not go around Africa.
Mailboxes
There are several versions about where the first mailbox appeared. According to one of them, the vestibules established in Florence at the beginning of the 16th century can be considered as such. They were placed next to churches - the main public places of the city. A wooden box with a slit at the top was designed to transmit anonymous denunciations of state crimes.
In the same XVI century, similar news appeared among sailors. Each British and Dutch colony had its own mailbox. Using similar technology, mariners transmitted correspondence to other ships.
The French inventor of the mailbox is Renoir de Vilaye. It was he who solved the problem of correspondence between Parisians. In the middle of the XVII century there were four post offices in the French capital, however, they could not cope with the huge flow of correspondence of ordinary citizens. Renoir de Vilaye was a member of the government and the National Academy of Sciences. By connecting his own ingenuity and administrative resources (permission of King Louis XIV), in 1653 he initiated the installation of mailboxes throughout Paris, which greatly facilitated the work of the postal service. The novelty quickly took root in the capital and spread to other cities of the country.
The history of Russian mail has developed so that domestic mailboxes appeared only in 1848. The first such wonders were installed in Moscow and St. Petersburg. At first, the designs were wooden, then they were changed to metal. For urgent shipments, mailboxes painted bright orange were used.
Stamps
The current international postal system had many shortcomings. The key one was that shipping fees remained difficult despite any logistics and technical innovations. This problem was first resolved in the UK. In 1840, the earliest known brand appeared there - the “black penny”. Its release was associated with the introduction of tariffs for sending letters.
The initiator of the creation of the brand was the politician Rowland Hill. The profile of the young Queen Victoria was engraved in the figure. The innovation has taken root and since then each mail envelope of the letter was equipped with a special label. Stickers have appeared in other countries. The reform has led to a significant increase in the number of postal shipments in the UK by more than double in just the first year after a landmark transformation.
Brands appeared in Russia in 1857. The first sign of postage was estimated at 10 kopecks. The stamp depicted a double-headed eagle. It was this heraldic symbol that was chosen for circulation, as it was the emblem of the Empire’s Postal Department. This department tried to keep up with Western trends. USSR Post also paid a lot of attention to stamps. Soviet shipping payment signs appeared in 1923.
Postcards
Familiar to all postcards arose relatively recently. The first card of this kind appeared in 1869 in Austria-Hungary. Soon, such a format gained pan-European popularity. This happened during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, when French soldiers began to massively send their relatives illustrated postcards.
Front-line fashion was instantly intercepted by businessmen. Within a few months, postcards began to be mass-produced in England, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. The first Russian postcard was published in 1872. Six years later, at a special congress in Paris, an international standard for card sizes (9 centimeters long, 14 centimeters wide) was adopted. Later it was changed several times. Over time, there were subspecies of postcards: congratulatory, species, reproductions, art, advertising, political, etc.
New trends
In 1820, an envelope was invented in Great Britain. After another 30 years, stamping packets appeared. In the middle of the XIX century, writing could make a trip around the world in 80-85 days. Departures accelerated when the Trans-Siberian Railway was opened in Russia.
The 19th century was marked by the successive appearance of the telegraph, telephone and radio. The emergence of new technologies did not detract from the importance that the post office was for then-people. The telegraph did an invaluable contribution to its development (the departments responsible for these two types of communications gradually merged in all countries).
In 1874, the Universal Postal Union was created and the Universal Postal Congress was convened. The purpose of the event was the signing of an international agreement that could unify disparate systems for the transfer of correspondence from around the world. The congress was attended by representatives of 22 states. They signed the Universal Single Postal Agreement, which was soon renamed the Universal Postal Convention. The document summarized the international rules for the exchange of items. Since then, the history of Russian post has continued in line with the worldwide evolution of postal services.
At the end of the 19th century, the development of aeronautics began. Man's conquest of air has led to the disappearance of any physical barriers to shipments around the world. As mentioned above, even ancient civilizations knew their own airmail - pigeon mail. Birds were used by people for communication, even at the very zenith of progress. Pigeons became especially irreplaceable during bloody conflicts. Feathered mail was regularly used on the fronts of the First and Second World War.
Email
The modern era has many definitions. They call it informational. And this is largely true. Today, information is the main resource that drives progress. The revolution connected with it was due to the advent of the Internet and modern means of communication.
Nowadays, paper mail, familiar to many generations of people, is gradually giving way to e-mail. The iron box for envelopes was replaced by e-mail, and social networks completely erased the idea of distance. If twenty years ago the Internet was perceived as freakish fun, now it’s hard to imagine the life of a modern person without it. Available to everyone, electronic e-mail embodied the centuries-old evolution of mail with all its various jerks and leaps.