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Text of the page (random words):
proof of payment is usually in the form of an adhesive postage stamp but a postage meter is also used for bulk mailing postal authorities often have functions aside from transporting letters in some countries a postal telegraph and telephone ptt service oversees the postal system in addition to telephone and telegraph systems some countries postal systems allow for savings accounts and handle applications for passports the universal postal union upu established in 1874 includes 192 member countries and sets the rules for international mail exchanges as a specialized agency of the united nations etymology edit mail envelope back to back philippine postal corporation 2019 the word mail comes from the middle english word male referring to a travelling bag or pack 2 it was spelled in that manner until the 17th century and is distinct from the word male in reference to the biological sex and gender the word is cognate with french malle trunk or large box and mála a bag whence mála spíosrach spice bag in the 17th century the word mail began to appear as a reference for a bag that contained letters bag full of letter 1654 over the next hundred years the word mail began to be applied strictly to the letters themselves and the sack as the mailbag in the 19th century the british typically used mail to refer to letters being sent abroad i e on a ship and post to refer to letters for domestic delivery the word post is derived from old french poste which ultimately stems from the past participle of the latin verb ponere to lay down or place 3 so in the u k the royal mail delivers the post while in north america both the u s postal service and canada post deliver the mail the term email short for electronic mail first appeared in the 1970s 4 5 the term snail mail is a retronym to distinguish it from the quicker email various dates have been given for its first use 6 7 8 history edit many early post systems consisted of fixed courier routes as seen in this 1832 depiction of a post house on a route in finland the practice of communication by written documents carried by an intermediary from one person or place to another almost certainly dates back nearly to the invention of writing however the development of formal postal systems occurred much later the first documented use of an organized courier service for the dissemination of written documents is in egypt where pharaohs used couriers to send out decrees throughout the territory of the state 2400 bce 9 the earliest surviving piece of mail is also egyptian dating to 255 bce 10 iran edit main articles royal road chapar khaneh and angarium the first credible claim for the development of a real postal system comes from the achaemenid empire the best documented claim by the greek historian xenophon attributes the invention to the persian king cyrus the great 550 bce who mandated that every province in his kingdom would organize reception and delivery of post to each of its citizens other writers credit his successor darius the great 521 bce who reorganized and rebuilt the royal road to facilitate the rapid travel of persian couriers from susa now iran in the east to sardis now turkey in the west other sources claim much earlier dates for a postal system under the assyrians with credit given to hammurabi 1700 bce and sargon ii 722 bce mail may not have been the primary mission of this postal service however the role of the system as an intelligence gathering apparatus is well documented and the service was later called angariae a term that in time came to indicate a tax system the book of esther in the hebrew bible makes mention of this system persian king ahasuerus used couriers to relay his decisions across the near east the persian system worked using stations called chapar khaneh persian چاپارخانه whence the message carrier the chapar would ride to the next post whereupon he would swap his horse with a fresh one for maximum performance and delivery speed the greek historian herodotus described the system in this way it is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey so many are the men and horses that stand along the road each horse and man at the interval of a day s journey and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed 11 the verse prominently features on james farley post office in new york city although it uses the translation neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds the ancient persian postal service system greatly influenced the greco roman world such that its model was adapted by the roman empire as the cursus publicus india edit the use of adhesive stamps and sealing wax to signify prepayment of postage began with the scinde dawk of british india on 1 july 1852 12 as part of a comprehensive reform of the postal system in scinde under the east india company main article postal history of india the economic growth and political stability under the mauryan empire 322 185 bce stimulated sustained development of civil infrastructure in ancient india the mauryans developed early indian mail service as well as public wells rest houses and other facilities for the public 13 common chariots called dagana were sometimes used as mail chariots in ancient india 14 couriers were used militarily by kings and local rulers to deliver information through runners and other carriers the postmaster the head of the intelligence service was responsible for ensuring the maintenance of the courier system couriers were also used to deliver personal letters 15 in south india the wodeyar dynasty 1399 1947 of the kingdom of mysore used mail service for espionage purposes thereby acquiring knowledge related to matters that took place at great distances 16 by the end of the 18th century a postal system in india was in operation later this system underwent complete modernization when the british raj established its control over most of india the post office act xvii of 1837 provided that the governor general of india in council had the exclusive right of conveying letters by post for hire within the territories of the east india company the mails were available to certain officials without charge which became a controversial privilege as the years passed on this basis the indian post office was established on october 1 1837 17 rome edit main article cursus publicus the first well documented postal service was that of rome organized at the time of augustus caesar 62 bce 14 ce the service was called cursus publicus and was provided with light carriages rhedæ pulled by fast horses by the time of diocletian a parallel service was established with two wheeled carts birotæ pulled by oxen this service was reserved for government correspondence yet another service for citizens was later added citation needed dubious discuss vietnam edit in 1802 the first vietnamese postal service was established under the nguyen dynasty under the ministry of rites 18 19 20 during the nguyen dynasty official documents were transported by horse and other primitive means to stations built about 25 30 kilometers apart 18 in 1904 three wireless communication offices were established and in early 1906 they were merged with the postal service to form the post and wireless office 21 22 in 1945 after the august revolution the post and wireless office was renamed the post office under the ministry of transportation 23 24 25 in 1955 the post office was upgraded to the ministry of post 26 27 28 china edit main article postal history of china chinese postage stamp 4 cent on 100 dollar silver overprint of 1949 some chinese sources claim mail or postal systems dating back to the xia or shang dynasties which would be the oldest mailing service in the world the earliest credible system of couriers was initiated by the han dynasty 206 bce 220 ce who had relay stations every 30 li about 15 km along major routes the tang dynasty 618 to 907 ad operated a recorded 1 639 posthouses including maritime offices employing around 20 000 people the system was administered by the ministry of war and private correspondence was forbidden from the network the ming dynasty 1368 to 1644 sought a postal system to deliver mail quickly securely and cheaply adequate speed was always a problem because of the slow overland transportation system and underfunding its network had 1 936 posthouses every 60 li along major routes with fresh horses available every 10 li between them 29 the qing operated 1 785 posthouses throughout their lands more efficient however was the system linking the international settlements centered around shanghai and the treaty ports it was the main communication system for china s international trade 30 mongol empire edit main article örtöö genghis khan installed an empire wide messenger and postal station system named örtöö within the mongol empire during the yuan dynasty under kublai khan this system also covered the territory of china postal stations were used not only for the transmission and delivery of official mail but were also available for travelling officials military men and foreign dignitaries these stations aided and facilitated the transport of foreign and domestic tribute specifically and the conduct of trade in general by the end of kublai khan s rule there were more than 1400 postal stations in china alone which in turn had at their disposal about 50 000 horses 1 400 oxen 6 700 mules 400 carts 6 000 boats more than 200 dogs and 1 150 sheep 31 the stations were 25 to 65 km 16 to 40 mi apart and had reliable attendants working for the mail service foreign observers such as marco polo have attested to the efficiency of this early postal system 31 each station was maintained by up to twenty five families work for postal service counted as military service the system was still operational in 18th century when 64 stations were required for a message to cross mongolia from the altai mountains to china 32 japan edit the modern japanese system was developed in the mid 19th century closely copying european models japan was highly innovative in developing the world s largest and most successful postal savings system and later a postal life insurance system as well postmasters play a key role in linking the japanese political system to local politics a postmaster s position is in high prestige and is often hereditary 33 to a large extent the postal system generated the enormous funding necessary to rapidly industrialize japan in the late 19th century 34 korea edit main article postage stamps and postal history of korea the postal service was one of korea s first attempts at modernization the joseon post office was established in 1884 35 other systems edit example of a main post office building in the polish city of kraków 2012 mail delivery by bicycle in the german city of cologne 2008 another important postal service was created in the islamic world by the caliph mu awiyya the service was called barid for the name of the towers built to protect the roads by which couriers travelled 36 by 3000 bc egypt was using homing pigeons for pigeon post taking advantage of a singular quality of this bird which when taken far from its nest is able to find its way home due to a particularly developed sense of orientation messages were then tied around the legs of the pigeon which was freed and could reach its original nest by the 19th century homing pigeons were used extensively for military communications 37 charlemagne extended to the whole territory of his empire the system used by franks in northern gaul and connected this service with that of missi dominici 38 failed verification in the mid 11th century flax traders known as the cairo geniza merchants from fustat egypt wrote about using a postal service known as the kutubi the kutubi system managed routes between the cities of jerusalem ramla tyre ascalon damascus aleppo and fustat with year round regular mail delivery 39 many religious orders had a private mail service notably the cistercians had one which connected more than 6 000 abbeys monasteries and churches the best organization however was created by the knights templar 40 failed verification in 1716 correos y telégrafos was established in spain as public mail service available to all citizens delivery postmen were first employed in 1756 and post boxes were installed firstly in 1762 41 thurn und taxis edit in 1505 holy roman emperor maximilian i established a postal system in the empire appointing franz von taxis to run it this system originally the kaiserliche reichspost is often considered the first modern postal service in the world which initiated a revolution in communication in europe 42 43 44 the system combined contemporary technical and organization means to create a stable transcontinental service which was also the first to offer fee based public access 45 46 47 48 the thurn und taxis family then known as tassis had operated postal services between italian city states from 1290 onward postmaster anselm franz 2nd prince of thurn and taxis 1681 1739 still today part of the logo of the white pages in many countries for 500 years the postal business based in brussels and in frankfurt was passed from one generation to another following the abolition of the empire in 1806 the thurn und taxis post system continued as a private organization into the postage stamp era before being absorbed into the postal system of the new german empire after 1871 maximilian karl 6th prince of thurn and taxis 1802 1871 last postmaster 1 july 1867 the state of prussia had to make a compensation payment of three million thalers reinvested by helene von thurn taxis daughter in law of the last postmaster maximilian karl 6th prince of thurn and taxis into real estate most of it continuing to exist today johannes 11th prince of thurn taxis 1926 1990 heir of the postal fortune postal reforms edit the penny black the world s first adhesive postage stamp issued in the united kingdom in 1840 see also uniform fourpenny post and uniform penny post in the united kingdom prior to 1840 letters were paid for by the recipient and the cost was determined by the distance from sender to recipient and the number of sheets of paper rather than by a countrywide flat rate with weight restrictions sir rowland hill reformed the postal system based on the concepts of penny postage and prepayment 49 in his proposal hill also called for official pre printed envelopes and adhesive postage stamps as alternative ways of getting the sender to pay for the postage at a time when prepayment was optional which led to the invention of the postage stamp the penny black modern transport and technology edit the first airmail service in the german empire 1912 the postal system was important in the development of modern transportation railways carried railway post offices during the 20th century air mail became the transpo...
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