General Postal Service List
A viewset for viewing and editing General Postal Services.
GET /api/sc/general-postal-services/?format=api&page=7
{ "count": 387, "next": "https://seshat-db.com/api/sc/general-postal-services/?format=api&page=8", "previous": "https://seshat-db.com/api/sc/general-postal-services/?format=api&page=6", "results": [ { "id": 301, "polity": { "id": 566, "name": "fr_france_napoleonic", "long_name": "Napoleonic France", "start_year": 1816, "end_year": 1870 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "present", "comment": null, "description": " A postal service was used throughout this period and by the end of the 1860s mail-order purchases could be made. §REF§Crook 2002: 57, 115. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/29D9EQQE§REF§" }, { "id": 302, "polity": { "id": 567, "name": "at_habsburg_2", "long_name": "Austria - Habsburg Dynasty II", "start_year": 1649, "end_year": 1918 }, "year_from": 1867, "year_to": 1918, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“Postal workers and elementary school teachers came to symbolize the empire for the general public, since they represented it in the most common daily life interactions, even in the most out of the way rural settings. As one historian wrote of the Hungarian postal system, it “was the state institution that doubtless created the greatest familiarity among ordinary people.”§REF§(Judson 2016: 337) Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, USA; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BN5TQZBW§REF§" }, { "id": 303, "polity": { "id": 302, "name": "gb_tudor_stuart", "long_name": "England Tudor-Stuart", "start_year": 1486, "end_year": 1689 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "A~P", "comment": null, "description": " “In 1680 a London penny post was started and soon taken over by the government; penny posts were established in large provincial towns in the later 18th cent.”§REF§(Cannon and Crowcroft 2015: 2643) Cannon, John and Crowcroft, Robert. 2015. The Oxford Companion to British History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2PEE2ZJ5§REF§ “For those who could not make it to the metropolis, from at least the mid-seventeenth century on an increasingly efficient postal service enabled them to receive news and stay connected via correspondence with those who were there.”§REF§(Bucholz et al 2013: 171) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U§REF§ “By the mid-1650s there were regular stage services between London and Exeter to the west, Chester to the north-west, and York and Newcastle to the north. Important routes would begin, and, and cross other routes at large inns. These provided not only accommodation but food, drink, entertainment, postal services, stabling, and a place where businessmen, such as drovers who brought cattle to market or corn factors who transported grain, could make deals.”§REF§(Bucholz et al 2013: 362) Bucholz, Robert, Newton Key, and R.O. Bucholz. 2013. Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uvic/detail.action?docID=1166775. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XQGJH96U§REF§" }, { "id": 304, "polity": { "id": 305, "name": "it_lombard_k", "long_name": "Lombard Kingdom", "start_year": 568, "end_year": 774 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": " General postal service have not been mentioned in the sources consulted." }, { "id": 305, "polity": { "id": 606, "name": "gb_anglo_saxon_2", "long_name": "Anglo-Saxon England II", "start_year": 927, "end_year": 1065 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": " There has been no information on a postal system in the sources consulted." }, { "id": 306, "polity": { "id": 295, "name": "tm_khwarezmid_emp", "long_name": "Khwarezmid Empire", "start_year": 1157, "end_year": 1231 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": " This has not been mentioned in the sources consulted." }, { "id": 307, "polity": { "id": 561, "name": "us_hohokam_culture", "long_name": "Hohokam Culture", "start_year": 300, "end_year": 1500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 308, "polity": { "id": 360, "name": "ir_saffarid_emp", "long_name": "Saffarid Caliphate", "start_year": 861, "end_year": 1003 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": " A postal service has not been mentioned in the sources consulted." }, { "id": 309, "polity": { "id": 786, "name": "gb_british_emp_2", "long_name": "British Empire II", "start_year": 1850, "end_year": 1968 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "present", "comment": null, "description": "There had been a postal service in England from 1660. In 1821 steam-driven ships began to deliver mail across the British Empire.§REF§( Royal Mail. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QI4L8AA2.§REF§ This reference concerns possessions in South Africa: \"...by horses and, in the 'twenties, by postcarts: a weekly postal service was set up in 1834. In 1852 there was a daily service from Cape Town to Paarl and Stellenbosh, thrice weekly to Grahamstown and twice weekly to the Karoo. The postcart also conveyed passengers. Following the issue of the famous three-cornered Capes in 1853, a penny post was established in limited areas in 1860 and four years later it was possible to extend it to the whole Colony. But, despite better roads, the ox-waggon remained the commercial vehicle and was still in use a century later.\"§REF§(? 1963, 795) ? in Eric A Walker. ed. 1963. The Cambridge History of the British Empire. Volume III. South Africa, Rhodesia and The High Commission Territories. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.§REF§" }, { "id": 310, "polity": { "id": 601, "name": "ru_soviet_union", "long_name": "Soviet Union", "start_year": 1918, "end_year": 1991 }, "year_from": 1923, "year_to": 1991, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Following the October Revolution of 1917, postal services in the Soviet Union underwent important development, particularly in the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, where the number of post offices eventually increased to 30 to 40 times that of the 1913 figure. Before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, state enterprises and individual customers alike were served by a network of some 90,000 post offices, about three-fourths of which were located in rural areas that prior to 1917 had little or no service.§REF§“Postal System - National Postal Systems | Britannica.” Accessed November 28, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/topic/postal-system/National-postal-systems.<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/D9ZJ8Q4U\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: D9ZJ8Q4U</b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 311, "polity": { "id": 571, "name": "ru_romanov_dyn_2", "long_name": "Russian Empire, Romanov Dynasty II", "start_year": 1776, "end_year": 1917 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "present", "comment": null, "description": "First Post Offices: The first post offices were established in major cities: Moscow (1711), Riga (around 1712), and Saint Petersburg (1714). Postal agencies also appeared in many cities. Between 1712 and 1716, a military field post service was created to serve the army.\r\n\r\nExpansion in the 18th Century: New postal routes were increasingly established from the first quarter of the 18th century. However, establishing regular postal connections, even with major cities, took decades. It was only by a decree in 1740 that postal offices appeared in all the main provincial and district cities.§REF§Pazin, R. V., et al. Istorii︠a︡ Rossii: Uchebnik: 10-11 Klassy: S Drevneĭshikh Vremen Do Kont︠s︡a XVII Veka. Legion-M, 2019.<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/Y4CZGWJY\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: Y4CZGWJY</b></a>§REF§" }, { "id": 312, "polity": { "id": 309, "name": "fr_carolingian_emp_1", "long_name": "Carolingian Empire I", "start_year": 752, "end_year": 840 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "absent", "comment": null, "description": "Royal postal system founded by Louis XI (1461-1483 CE) in 1464 CE. Network of stations and horses. Not for public use. §REF§(Potter 1998, 27) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/potter/titleCreatorYear/items/DVCUX6RX/item-list§REF§" }, { "id": 313, "polity": { "id": 130, "name": "ir_sassanid_emp_2", "long_name": "Sasanid Empire II", "start_year": 488, "end_year": 642 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "present", "comment": "unknown? \"In Persia the postal service appears to have originated in the Achaemenid period. ... There were way stations where the couriers could rest and where fresh horses could be obtained. ... Under the Sasanians a similar postal system appears to have been in operation; in a peace treaty concluded with Byzantium in a.d. 561 one clause stipulated that envoys should be supplied with mounts at the postal stations maintained by both empires.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/X37GDKSV\">[Floor 1990]</a>", "description": "\"In Persia the postal service appears to have originated in the Achaemenid period. ... There were way stations where the couriers could rest and where fresh horses could be obtained. ... Under the Sasanians a similar postal system appears to have been in operation; in a peace treaty concluded with Byzantium in a.d. 561 one clause stipulated that envoys should be supplied with mounts at the postal stations maintained by both empires.\"§REF§(Floor 1990) Floor, Willem. 1990. ČĀPĀR. www.iranicaonline.org/articles/capar-or-capar-turk§REF§ The barid of the Islamic era thought to have been based on earlier system of postal stations." }, { "id": 314, "polity": { "id": 539, "name": "ye_qatabanian_commonwealth", "long_name": "Qatabanian Commonwealth", "start_year": -450, "end_year": -111 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "present", "comment": null, "description": "\"The Near East is no stranger to land-based empires, and empires have never been able to survive without the ability of rulers to com- municate regularly and speedily with the remotest provinces of their lands. The usual method of communication employed by imperial rulers is often referred to as a ‘postal system’. By the time the caliphs created their own postal-system, called al-Barìd, they were able to draw on the centuries, if not millennia, of postal experience imprinted on the lands they ruled. [...] Noth’s general conclusion is that any literary sources that refer to the Barìd must be no earlier than c. 700. Although I agree with Noth’s cautious approach to the literary sources and respect his uncompromising reliance on documentary evidence, in this case he is over a century and a half off the mark: a South Arabian inscription from c. 542 makes reference to two couriers bearing news of the breaching of the Ma’rib Dam, the term for these couriers being represented by the consonants BRDN\"§REF§(Silverstein, 153, 156) Silverstein, A. Documentary Evidence for the Early History of the Barìd. In SIJPESTEIJN, P. M. and L. Sundelin (eds) PAPYROLOGY AND THE HISTORY OF EARLY ISLAMIC EGYPT pp. 153-162. Brill. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8BIFF7D2/library§REF§" }, { "id": 315, "polity": { "id": 359, "name": "ye_ziyad_dyn", "long_name": "Yemen Ziyadid Dynasty", "start_year": 822, "end_year": 1037 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Inferred from the fact that the Abbasids (that is, the Ziyadids' predecessors) likely established a postal system across their empire:\r\n\r\n\r\n\"Second, and perhaps more importantly, is al-'Umarì’s statement that from the fall of the Umayyads until the reign of Hàrùn al- Rashìd there was no regular Barìd service at the disposal of the Abbasid caliphs. There are no fewer than eight documents that disprove his assumption. Before discussing them, it is worth mentioning that there are literary references to the Barìd being used under the early Abbasid caliphs, and the thought that—despite the rich heritage of imperial communications systems in the Near East—the Abbasids spent the first four decades of their reign without a Barìd is plainly counter-intuitive. But, in essence, what we have here is a tension between a number of literary sources, and it is only from the existing documentary evidence that these tensions can be alleviated. Of the eight Barìd-related fragments, six are from Egypt and two are from Central Asia.\"§REF§(Silverstein, 157) Silverstein, A. Documentary Evidence for the Early History of the Barìd. In SIJPESTEIJN, P. M. and L. Sundelin (eds) PAPYROLOGY AND THE HISTORY OF EARLY ISLAMIC EGYPT pp. 153-162. Brill. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8BIFF7D2/library§REF§" }, { "id": 316, "polity": { "id": 362, "name": "ir_buyid_confederation", "long_name": "Buyid Confederation", "start_year": 932, "end_year": 1062 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "present", "comment": "unknown. \"In an effort to establish a quick postal service, Adud al-Daula concentrated on improving the roads between Baghdad and Shīrāz.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/CR2I2ZF3\">[Busse_Frye 1975, p. 283]</a> Was this a general postal service or one just for the government? a 'hamami' was a \"despatcher of carrier pigeons and letters from one town to another\" in Iraq, Egypt and Syria: 9th, 10th 11th CE. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/3RBZDVWI\">[Shatzmiller 1994, p. 140]</a>", "description": "\"In an effort to establish a quick postal service, Adud al-Daula concentrated on improving the roads between Baghdad and Shīrāz.\" §REF§(Busse 1975, 283)§REF§ The barid \"post and intelligence service that had been established by the early Abbasids, and which allowed the caliphal government to keep tabs on its most far-flung provinces ... was used by both the Buyids and the Ghaznavids\".§REF§(Peacock 2015, 200) Peacock, A C S. 2015. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.§REF§ \"Under the Buyids rapid and efficient service was established first between Baghdad and Ray, then between Baghdad and Shiraz, with couriers arriving in the capital daily (Ebn Jawzī, VI, p. 341; Helāl Ṣābeʾ, p. 18; cf. Busse, p. 311).\"§REF§(Floor 1990) Floor, Willem. 1990. ČĀPĀR. www.iranicaonline.org/articles/capar-or-capar-turk§REF§\r\n\r\nHowever, “The struggles between the different regional powers and the Abbasid caliphate of Baghdad, particularly during the time of the Buyids and later in the eleventh century with the arrival of the Turks in the Middle East, meant that the barid became progressively disorganized until only an occasional postal service remained (Sauvaget, 11; Ebn Fazlollāh al-ʿOmari, 241).”§REF§(Gazagnadou 2017, 51) Gazagnadou, D. 2017. The Iranian origin of the word 'barid’. Journal of Persianate Studies 10(1) pp. 49-56. Seshat URL https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/A2CXIP3I/library§REF§" }, { "id": 317, "polity": { "id": 545, "name": "it_venetian_rep_4", "long_name": "Republic of Venice IV", "start_year": 1564, "end_year": 1797 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "present", "comment": null, "description": "“During the sixteenth and first half of the seventeenth centuries, Venice’s postal couriers provided the only regular, reliable mail service between the Ottoman Empire and Europe, and as a result they carried a majority of all commercial, diplomatic and personal correspondence to and from Constantinople.” §REF§(Preto 2010, 602) Preto. P. 2010. I servizi segreti di Venezia. Spionaggio e controspionaggio ai tempi della Serenissima. Il Saggiatore. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/X2J9U6U9/library§REF§\r\n\r\n“Dal 1200 al 1740 il servizio postale da Costantinopoli a Cattaro, con corrieri a cavallo e di qui a Venzia con barche armate, è largamente usato in tempo di pace anche da mercanti e diplomatici occidentali accreditati alla Porta e dopo l’intervallo 1740-1787, quando la stessa Repubblica preferisce appoggiarsi al più veloce servizio austriaco via Vienna, viene ripreso con l’unica variante dell’itinerario, che ora tocca Zara e Ancona” §REF§(Dursteler 2009, 295) Dursteler, E. R. 2009. POWER AND INFORMATION: THE VENETIAN POSTAL SYSTEM IN THE EARLY MODERN EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN. IN Ramada Curto, Dursteler, Kirschner and Trivellato (eds) From Florence to the Mediterranean: Studies in Honor of Anthony Molho pp. 601-623. Olshki. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/dursteler/titleCreatorYear/items/S4N55M4Z/item-list§REF§ Translation: “From 1200 to 1740 the postal service from Constantinople to Cattaro, with couriers on horseback and from there to Venice with armed boats, was widely used in peacetime also by Western merchants and diplomats accredited to the Porte. After a pause in 1740-1787, when the Republic itself preferred to rely on the faster Austrian service via Vienna, it resumed with a slight alteration to the itinerary, which now touched Zara and Ancona\"." }, { "id": 318, "polity": { "id": 88, "name": "in_post_mauryan_k", "long_name": "Post-Mauryan Kingdoms", "start_year": -205, "end_year": -101 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "The following quote refers to the Mauryan period, but the literature consulted does not confirm whether or not such a system remained in place after that empire's fragmentation: \"a communication system linking the empire with tree-lined roads, public wells, rest houses, and a mail service.\"§REF§(McClellan III and Dorn 2015, 164) McClellan III, James E. Dorn, Harold. 2015. Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction. JHU Press.§REF§" }, { "id": 319, "polity": { "id": 90, "name": "in_vakataka_k", "long_name": "Vakataka Kingdom", "start_year": 255, "end_year": 550 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "No persuasive evidence could be found, in the literature consulted, for the existence of a postal service of any kind in India, between the end of the Mauryan period and the fourteenth century, when Ibn Battuta visited the Delhi Sultanate and described its communication services. However, it is entirely possible that such systems existed in at least some polities, especially the larger ones." }, { "id": 320, "polity": { "id": 95, "name": "in_hoysala_k", "long_name": "Hoysala Kingdom", "start_year": 1108, "end_year": 1346 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": "unknown", "description": "No persuasive evidence could be found, in the literature consulted, for the existence of a postal service of any kind in India, between the end of the Mauryan period and the fourteenth century, when Ibn Battuta visited the Delhi Sultanate and described its communication services. However, it is entirely possible that such systems existed in at least some polities, especially the larger ones." }, { "id": 321, "polity": { "id": 96, "name": "in_kampili_k", "long_name": "Kampili Kingdom", "start_year": 1280, "end_year": 1327 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": "unknown", "description": "No persuasive evidence could be found, in the literature consulted, for the existence of a postal service of any kind in India, between the end of the Mauryan period and the fourteenth century, when Ibn Battuta visited the Delhi Sultanate and described its communication services. However, it is entirely possible that such systems existed in at least some polities, especially the larger ones." }, { "id": 322, "polity": { "id": 97, "name": "in_vijayanagara_emp", "long_name": "Vijayanagara Empire", "start_year": 1336, "end_year": 1646 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": "unknown", "description": "No persuasive evidence could be found, in the literature consulted, for the existence of a postal service of any kind in India, between the end of the Mauryan period and the fourteenth century, when Ibn Battuta visited the Delhi Sultanate and described its communication services. However, it is entirely possible that such systems existed in at least some polities, especially the larger ones." }, { "id": 323, "polity": { "id": 385, "name": "in_sunga_emp", "long_name": "Magadha - Sunga Empire", "start_year": -187, "end_year": -65 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "No persuasive evidence could be found, in the literature consulted, for the existence of a postal service of any kind in India, between the end of the Mauryan period and the fourteenth century, when Ibn Battuta visited the Delhi Sultanate and described its communication services. However, it is entirely possible that such systems existed in at least some polities, especially the larger ones." }, { "id": 324, "polity": { "id": 416, "name": "in_ayodhya_k", "long_name": "Kingdom of Ayodhya", "start_year": -64, "end_year": 34 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "No persuasive evidence could be found, in the literature consulted, for the existence of a postal service of any kind in India, between the end of the Mauryan period and the fourteenth century, when Ibn Battuta visited the Delhi Sultanate and described its communication services. However, it is entirely possible that such systems existed in at least some polities, especially the larger ones." }, { "id": 325, "polity": { "id": 388, "name": "in_gupta_emp", "long_name": "Gupta Empire", "start_year": 320, "end_year": 550 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "No persuasive evidence could be found, in the literature consulted, for the existence of a postal service of any kind in India, between the end of the Mauryan period and the fourteenth century, when Ibn Battuta visited the Delhi Sultanate and described its communication services. However, it is entirely possible that such systems existed in at least some polities, especially the larger ones." }, { "id": 326, "polity": { "id": 390, "name": "in_magadha_k", "long_name": "Magadha", "start_year": 450, "end_year": 605 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "No persuasive evidence could be found, in the literature consulted, for the existence of a postal service of any kind in India, between the end of the Mauryan period and the fourteenth century, when Ibn Battuta visited the Delhi Sultanate and described its communication services. However, it is entirely possible that such systems existed in at least some polities, especially the larger ones." }, { "id": 327, "polity": { "id": 417, "name": "in_kannauj_varman_dyn", "long_name": "Kannauj - Varman Dynasty", "start_year": 650, "end_year": 780 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "No persuasive evidence could be found, in the literature consulted, for the existence of a postal service of any kind in India, between the end of the Mauryan period and the fourteenth century, when Ibn Battuta visited the Delhi Sultanate and described its communication services. However, it is entirely possible that such systems existed in at least some polities, especially the larger ones." }, { "id": 328, "polity": { "id": 418, "name": "in_gurjara_pratihara_dyn", "long_name": "Gurjar-Pratihara Dynasty", "start_year": 730, "end_year": 1030 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "No persuasive evidence could be found, in the literature consulted, for the existence of a postal service of any kind in India, between the end of the Mauryan period and the fourteenth century, when Ibn Battuta visited the Delhi Sultanate and described its communication services. However, it is entirely possible that such systems existed in at least some polities, especially the larger ones." }, { "id": 329, "polity": { "id": 405, "name": "in_gahadavala_dyn", "long_name": "Gahadavala Dynasty", "start_year": 1085, "end_year": 1193 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "No persuasive evidence could be found, in the literature consulted, for the existence of a postal service of any kind in India, between the end of the Mauryan period and the fourteenth century, when Ibn Battuta visited the Delhi Sultanate and described its communication services. However, it is entirely possible that such systems existed in at least some polities, especially the larger ones." }, { "id": 330, "polity": { "id": 134, "name": "af_ghur_principality", "long_name": "Ghur Principality", "start_year": 1025, "end_year": 1215 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "Unclear, based on the literature consulted. \r\n\r\nThomas seems to suggest that long-distance communication mainly took place via a system of watchtower, possibly augmented by carrier pigeons.\r\n\r\n\"[Fortresses] seem to have functioned as part of networks of watchtowers that provided an efficient signalling and communication system, although al-Juzjani also states that pigeons were used to carry messages between the fortresses.\"§REF§(Thomas 2018, no page number) Thomas, D. C. 2018. The Ebb and Flow of the Ghūrid Empire. Sydney University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WP4SXX74/library§REF§\r\n\r\nAt the same time, it is possible that, following the conquest of the Ghaznavid polity, the Ghurids adopted all or some of whatever communication system may have existed in those lands. Nizami does point to the existence of an official in charge of diplomatic correspondence, which implies the existence of some kind of messaging system, though possibly one restricted to government use.\r\n\r\n\"The d ̄ıwa ̄n of the chief secretary dealt with correspondence with provincial officials and with external rulers. We possess in sources such as Bayhaq ̄ı’s history and cAq ̄ıl ̄ı’s A ̄tha ̄r al-wuzara ̄’ [Famous Past Deeds of the Viziers or Past Traces of the Viziers] the texts, in florid Arabic and Persian, of several letters to the Karakhanids and the cAbbasid caliphs, including announcements of victories (fat’h-na ̄mas).\" §REF§(Bosworth 1998: 119) Bosworth, C. E. 1998. The Ghaznavids. In Asimov (ed) History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The historical, social and economic setting, Volume 1 pp. 103-124. UNESCO. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/MVIGXRNM/library§REF§" }, { "id": 331, "polity": { "id": 133, "name": "pk_sind_abbasid_fatimid", "long_name": "Sind - Abbasid-Fatimid Period", "start_year": 854, "end_year": 1193 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "A postal service seems to have existed under the Abbasids, but, judging from the literature consulted, it remains unclear whether such a system was present in Sind as well at this time.\r\n\r\n \"As long-distance trade grew, so, too, did the institutions supporting it. Investment patterns, for example. shifted from mostly land based in the late eighth century to a variety of commercial applications, including ships, horses, and shops in the ninth century. A private express courier service augmented the official Abbasid courier system.\" (Gutelius 2015, 2) §REF§(Pomeranz, K., Northrup, C.C., Bentley, J.H., Topik, S., Eckes Jr, A.E. and Manning, P., 2015. Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient Times to the Present: From Ancient Times to the Present. Routledge.)§REF§" }, { "id": 332, "polity": { "id": 136, "name": "pk_samma_dyn", "long_name": "Sind - Samma Dynasty", "start_year": 1335, "end_year": 1521 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "Ibn Battuta described a kind of postal service for the Delhi Sultanate, but the literature consulted does not indicate whether any such system was retained in independent Sind. Moreover, it seems the Delhi Sultanate system may have solely served the rulers.\r\n\r\n\"Description of the Barid [Postal Service]. The postal service in India is of two kinds. The horse-post, which they call wlag, consists of horses belonging to the Sultan [with relays] every four miles. The service of couriers on foot has within the space of each mile three relays, which they call dawa,' the dawa being a third of a mile, and a mile itself is called by them kuruh. The manner of its organization is as follows. At every third of a mile there is an inhabited village, outside which there are three pavilions. In these sit men girded up ready to move off, each of whom has a rod two cubits long with copper bells at the top. When a courier leaves the town he takes the letter in the fingers of one hand and the rod with the bells in the other, and runs with all his might. The men in the pavilions, on hearing the sound of the bells, get ready to meet him and when he reaches them one of them takes the letter in his hand and passes on, running with all his might and shaking his rod until he reaches the next däwa, and so they continue until the letter reaches its destination. This post is quicker than the mounted post, and they often use it to transport fruits from Khuräsän which are regarded as\r\ngreat luxuries in India; the couriers put them on [woven baskets like] plates and carry them with great speed to the Sultan. In the same way they transport the principal crimi- nals; they place each man on a stretcher and run carrying the stretcher on their heads. Likewise they bring the Sultan's drinking water when he resides at Dawlat Abad, carrying it from the river Kank [Ganges], to which the Hindus go on pilgrimage and which is at a distance of | forty days' journey from there.\" §REF§(Ibn Battuta, tr. H.A.R. Gibb 1971, pp. 594-595) The Travels of Ibn Battuta, translated by H. A. R. Gibb. 1971. Cambridge University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GD7E8RNS/item-list§REF§" }, { "id": 333, "polity": { "id": 507, "name": "ir_elymais_2", "long_name": "Elymais II", "start_year": 25, "end_year": 215 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "The following is described for preceding and succeeding polities, however unclear if used by private individuals, or whether it was present at this particular time: \"In Persia the postal service appears to have originated in the Achaemenid period. ... There were way stations where the couriers could rest and where fresh horses could be obtained. ... Under the Sasanians a similar postal system appears to have been in operation; in a peace treaty concluded with Byzantium in a.d. 561 one clause stipulated that envoys should be supplied with mounts at the postal stations maintained by both empires.(Blockley, p. 212, clause 3; Camb. Hist. Iran III/1, p. 574; cf. Christensen, p. 129)\" §REF§(Floor, Willem. 1990. Encyclopaedia Iranica. Vol. IV, Fasc. 7, pp. 764-768. <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/capar-or-capar-turk\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/capar-or-capar-turk</a>)§REF§" }, { "id": 334, "polity": { "id": 250, "name": "cn_qin_emp", "long_name": "Qin Empire", "start_year": -338, "end_year": -207 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "present", "comment": "From the Shang period roads considered important enough to be \"controlled by a special official\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/82UFSQ6E\">[Lindqvist 2009]</a> but references to post usually begin with the Qin's First Emperor who \"constructed post roads across his empire\". <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/R92Q5UK7\">[Mokyr 2003, p. 391]</a>", "description": null }, { "id": 335, "polity": { "id": 426, "name": "cn_southern_song_dyn", "long_name": "Southern Song", "start_year": 1127, "end_year": 1279 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "absent", "comment": "\"The creation of a system of relay postal stations has been credited to Chinngis Khan, but was most effectively employed by Chinngis Khan's successor Ogodei.\" <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/V5QMVJGC\">[Avery 2003, p. 40]</a>", "description": null }, { "id": 336, "polity": { "id": 423, "name": "cn_eastern_zhou_warring_states", "long_name": "Eastern Zhou", "start_year": -475, "end_year": -256 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "absent", "comment": "unlikely literacy widespread enough for a general postal service to be necessary.", "description": null }, { "id": 337, "polity": { "id": 708, "name": "pt_portuguese_emp_1", "long_name": "Portuguese Empire - Renaissance Period", "start_year": 1495, "end_year": 1579 }, "year_from": 1495, "year_to": 1519, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "absent", "comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT", "description": null }, { "id": 338, "polity": { "id": 708, "name": "pt_portuguese_emp_1", "long_name": "Portuguese Empire - Renaissance Period", "start_year": 1495, "end_year": 1579 }, "year_from": 1520, "year_to": 1579, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "present", "comment": "According to Valle Salvino <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WACR37J5\">[Valle_Salvino 2018]</a> , the Portuguese postal service was founded in 1520, and he points to the royal letter that established it as evidence that, from the start, this postal service was intended for the wider public. \"O serviço postal português começou em 1520, como uma mercê concedida pelo rei D. Manuel a Luís Homem, cavaleiro da Casa Real, filho de um antigo estribeiro-mor, oficial cuja função era justamente administrar os moços do estribo, que, entre outras tarefas, atuavam como correios privados do rei. [...] Apesar de sua extensão, transcrevo aqui, na íntegra, a carta régia de criação do correiomor, intercalando os trechos com comentários, haja vista a riqueza dos pormenores, úteis ao bom entendimento da trajetória do serviço que ali se iniciava [...]. O destaque dado ao trecho “no ofício de correio-mor de nossos reinos nos saberá bem servir e assim a todos os mercadores e pessoas que quiserem enviar cartas de umas partes para outras” é, no entanto, uma novidade, pois traz praticamente para a abertura do documento o fato de o novo serviço ser, ao mesmo tempo, da casa e do povo.\"", "description": null }, { "id": 339, "polity": { "id": 709, "name": "pt_portuguese_emp_2", "long_name": "Portuguese Empire - Early Modern", "start_year": 1640, "end_year": 1806 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "present", "comment": "According to Valle Salvino, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WACR37J5\">[Valle_Salvino 2018]</a> the Portuguese postal service was founded in 1520, and he points to the royal letter that established it as evidence that, from the start, this postal service was intended for the wider public. \"O serviço postal português começou em 1520, como uma mercê concedida pelo rei D. Manuel a Luís Homem, cavaleiro da Casa Real, filho de um antigo estribeiro-mor, oficial cuja função era justamente administrar os moços do estribo, que, entre outras tarefas, atuavam como correios privados do rei. [...] Apesar de sua extensão, transcrevo aqui, na íntegra, a carta régia de criação do correiomor, intercalando os trechos com comentários, haja vista a riqueza dos pormenores, úteis ao bom entendimento da trajetória do serviço que ali se iniciava [...]. O destaque dado ao trecho “no ofício de correio-mor de nossos reinos nos saberá bem servir e assim a todos os mercadores e pessoas que quiserem enviar cartas de umas partes para outras” é, no entanto, uma novidade, pois traz praticamente para a abertura do documento o fato de o novo serviço ser, ao mesmo tempo, da casa e do povo.\"", "description": null }, { "id": 340, "polity": { "id": 337, "name": "ru_moskva_rurik_dyn", "long_name": "Grand Principality of Moscow, Rurikid Dynasty", "start_year": 1480, "end_year": 1613 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "absent", "comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT", "description": null }, { "id": 341, "polity": { "id": 284, "name": "hu_avar_khaganate", "long_name": "Avar Khaganate", "start_year": 586, "end_year": 822 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": "no data.", "description": null }, { "id": 342, "polity": { "id": 210, "name": "et_aksum_emp_2", "long_name": "Axum II", "start_year": 350, "end_year": 599 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT", "description": null }, { "id": 343, "polity": { "id": 213, "name": "et_aksum_emp_3", "long_name": "Axum III", "start_year": 600, "end_year": 800 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT", "description": null }, { "id": 344, "polity": { "id": 379, "name": "mm_bagan", "long_name": "Bagan", "start_year": 1044, "end_year": 1287 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT", "description": null }, { "id": 345, "polity": { "id": 226, "name": "ib_banu_ghaniya", "long_name": "Banu Ghaniya", "start_year": 1126, "end_year": 1227 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "absent", "comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT", "description": null }, { "id": 346, "polity": { "id": 246, "name": "cn_chu_dyn_spring_autumn", "long_name": "Chu Kingdom - Spring and Autumn Period", "start_year": -740, "end_year": -489 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "absent", "comment": "unlikely literacy high enough for a general postal service to be necessary.", "description": null }, { "id": 347, "polity": { "id": 249, "name": "cn_chu_k_warring_states", "long_name": "Chu Kingdom - Warring States Period", "start_year": -488, "end_year": -223 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "absent", "comment": "unlikely literacy widespread enough for a general postal service to be necessary.", "description": null }, { "id": 348, "polity": { "id": 299, "name": "ru_crimean_khanate", "long_name": "Crimean Khanate", "start_year": 1440, "end_year": 1783 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "\"the khanate's governmental structures and institutions often followed the Ottoman model.§REF§(Klein 2012, 3) Denise Klein. Introduction. Denise Klein. ed. 2012. The Crimean Khanate between East and West. (15th-18th Century). Harrassowitz Verlag. Wiesbaden.§REF§ The Ottomans had the ulak system of postal stations." }, { "id": 349, "polity": { "id": 54, "name": "pa_cocle_1", "long_name": "Early Greater Coclé", "start_year": 200, "end_year": 700 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "absent", "comment": "The sources I have consulted do not mention a postal service, and Precolumbian Panamanian societies were non-literate. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IPHPU92K\">[Mendizábal_Archibold 2004, p. 14]</a>", "description": null }, { "id": 350, "polity": { "id": 218, "name": "ma_idrisid_dyn", "long_name": "Idrisids", "start_year": 789, "end_year": 917 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "General_postal_service", "general_postal_service": "unknown", "comment": "EMPTY_COMMENT", "description": null } ] }