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Sieroszewski -writing in the Russian period- mentions couriers, but their status as professionals is unclear: ’I spent the autumn of 1884 in the Kolymsk Ulus, at Engzha, in the home of the old man Ivan Sleptsov, who had just been chosen prince of the Second Kangalas Nasleg. Once, in the middle of October, a courier was sent to us from the valley of Ungdzha, with an invitation to a wedding. The clansmen invited their prince, and I was invited to come along. We had to travel approximately seventy versts on horse-back; we spent one night on the road and arrived at the home of the Yakut Dmitrii, who was holding the wedding, at daybreak on the next day. He was giving away his daughter in marriage, and the forthcoming festivity was the first and most important of the marriage ceremonies. Approaching the homestead we constantly outrode groups of mounted Yakut, while near the house we encountered a group of women leading a cow. These all were people belonging to the clan of the bride: they were hurrying to the wedding. The bridal train of the bridegroom, it turned out, was riding behind us. It consisted of the father of the bridegroom, his uncle, the match-maker - some distant relative, and an elder cousin of the bridegroom. All of them were dressed in their best costumes, and rode on their best horses along the road in single file, one behind the other. At the very end of the procession rode the young bridegroom and led behind him a pair of horses, loaded with meat. The match-maker also led a pair of pack horses.’
[1]
We have assumed that prior to Russian rule, messengers were community members rather than professionals.
[1]: Sieroszewski, Wacław 1993. “Yakut: An Experiment In Ethnographic Research”, 842 |
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We have found no evidence of full-time couriers.
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Sources do not suggest there is evidence for a postal system during this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Sources do not suggest there is evidence for a postal system during this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Probably absent, only mentioned for the Mongolian Empire.
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Sources do not suggest there is evidence for a postal system during this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Full-time professional couriers.
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although there were messengers
[1]
they appear not to be professionalized until the early medieval period.
[2]
[1]: Brown, Delmer M. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1: Ancient Japan. Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press.p.43 [2]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.328. |
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The following suggests that, even if a postal system had existed in previous centuries (something for which there is no evidence), it most likely would have disappeared by this time. "The Indus civilization flourished for around five hundred to seven hundred years, and in the early second millennium it disintegrated. This collapse was marked by the disappearance of the features that had distinguished the Indus civilization from its predecessors: writing, city dwelling, some kind of central control, international trade, occupational specialization, and widely distributed standardized artifacts."
[1]
[1]: (McIntosh 2008, 91-92) Jane McIntosh. 2008. The Ancient Indus Civilization. Oxford; Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio. |
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Present in the second millennium BCE but not mentioned for the Neo Elamite period.
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Present in the second millennium BCE but not mentioned for the Neo Elamite period.
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During the colonial period, some journals were distributed among small educated neo-elites, but not to the general population: ‘Most of the writings before 1940 had religious intonation though secular form of literature began in 1924. Before this, there were only two journals in Garo language-one was the A’chikni Ripeng or “Friend of the Garos”, a powerful organ of the American Baptist Mission started in 1879. Since the journal was meant for propagation of plans and policies of the American Baptist Mission, articles dealing with one’s freedom of thought and expression were not accepted and published in it. The other journal, which was brought out in October, 1912 by three local leaders, namely Jobang D. Marak, Modhunath G. Momin and Alexander Macdonald Bassamoit, was Phringphrang or “Morning Star”. This journal, which was supposed to be secular in nature, was not very much different from the A’chikni Ripeng as most of the articles there, were connected with religion. The journal had its last publication in December, 1914 after which there were no more secular journals.’
[1]
This suggests that neither couriers nor institutions resembling a postal service were present prior to colonization.
[1]: Shira, Lindrid D. 1995. “Renaissance In Garo Literature”, 176 |
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’In ancient times, when a warleader wanted to lead his people in war, he usually sent an urgent temuku tali (“string with knots”) to call together his warriors. Attached to each string was a chicken’s feather and small piece of half-burnt wood. The meaning of these articles was that the message carried by the string must be transmitted in a great hurry and quickly relayed from one longhouse to another day and night, till it reached its final destination. Feathers are said to symbolize the swiftness of flight and the half-burnt wood, the torches to be used at night in carrying the message from one longhouse to another. The message itself was transmitted verbally. Each knot in the string signified one day and had to be untied each morning by the recipients. On the day when the last knot was untied, all the warriors who had armed themselves would arrive at the warleader’s longhouse to join the war expedition.’
[1]
These messages were not transmitted by professional couriers, but by regular community members. ’The other method used by ancient warleaders to summon their warriors was to send their most trusted warrior from one longhouse to another, with a sharp spear ( sangkoh ) heavily decorated with the hair of enemies. On arrival at each fighting man’s longhouse, the bearer of the spear informed his comrades-in-arms that they were requested to join the warpath on a certain day. On receiving this message, each warrior started to arm himself with weapons such as nyabor, langgai tingang, surong bila, ilang and pedang swords; terabai (shield), sumpit (blowpipe), sangkoh, bujak, perambut and berayang spears. A day or two before the war party was due to set out, all the fighters assembled at the warleader’s longhouse, sufficiently provisioned by their wives with rice and cakes. These methods of calling people to war ended in about 1900.’
[2]
The same is true for invitations sent out to other longhouse communities on the occasion of festivals.
[1]: Sandin, Benedict, and Clifford Sather 1980. “Iban Adat And Augury”, 4 [2]: Sandin, Benedict, and Clifford Sather 1980. “Iban Adat And Augury”, 5 |
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’In ancient times, when a warleader wanted to lead his people in war, he usually sent an urgent temuku tali (“string with knots”) to call together his warriors. Attached to each string was a chicken’s feather and small piece of half-burnt wood. The meaning of these articles was that the message carried by the string must be transmitted in a great hurry and quickly relayed from one longhouse to another day and night, till it reached its final destination. Feathers are said to symbolize the swiftness of flight and the half-burnt wood, the torches to be used at night in carrying the message from one longhouse to another. The message itself was transmitted verbally. Each knot in the string signified one day and had to be untied each morning by the recipients. On the day when the last knot was untied, all the warriors who had armed themselves would arrive at the warleader’s longhouse to join the war expedition.’
[1]
These messages were not transmitted by professional couriers, but by regular community members. ’The other method used by ancient warleaders to summon their warriors was to send their most trusted warrior from one longhouse to another, with a sharp spear ( sangkoh ) heavily decorated with the hair of enemies. On arrival at each fighting man’s longhouse, the bearer of the spear informed his comrades-in-arms that they were requested to join the warpath on a certain day. On receiving this message, each warrior started to arm himself with weapons such as nyabor, langgai tingang, surong bila, ilang and pedang swords; terabai (shield), sumpit (blowpipe), sangkoh, bujak, perambut and berayang spears. A day or two before the war party was due to set out, all the fighters assembled at the warleader’s longhouse, sufficiently provisioned by their wives with rice and cakes. These methods of calling people to war ended in about 1900.’
[2]
The same is true for invitations sent out to other longhouse communities on the occasion of festivals.
[1]: Sandin, Benedict, and Clifford Sather 1980. “Iban Adat And Augury”, 4 [2]: Sandin, Benedict, and Clifford Sather 1980. “Iban Adat And Augury”, 5 |
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present in Mongol Empire and Yuan Dynasty, but:
"With the collapse of the Mongol Empire by the mid-fourteenth century, the jam [postroad] system also broke down in China, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Russia." [1] [1]: (Shim 2022, no page number) Shim, H. 2022. The Jam System: The Mongol Institution for Communication and Transportation. In May and Hope (eds) The Mongol World. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/K2ZP2CKP/library |
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Sources do not suggest there is evidence for a postal system during this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Specialist messenger probably unlikely at this early time.
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Shuar communities transmitted messages through ceremonial and war drums: ’A few words must be said about the túndui, the wireless telephone of the Aguarunas. It consists of a hollowed-out tree trunk, about 100-120 cm. long and of a thickness of 30-35 cm. At each end there is a handle, one of which is used to grab it, the other as a support on the ground, so that the instrument is free to vibrate. On top of the drum there are four holes in one direction. Originally, these holes may have been used to hollow out the trunk, in the end they help with the resonance. (See Illustration number 4.) They beat the instrument with a short stick which is wound with vegetarian wool at one end. The sound differs depending on whether the drum is hit from the side or at the top. The messages are conveyed, in the manner of our Morse system, by a combination of these two sound possibilities. If the air is quiet, one is able to hear the túndui at a distance of several kilometers. The message is transmitted from one place to the other by a process of interception and further transmission.’
[1]
’“As we sat on the banks of the Upano, listening to the words of wisdom that fell from Kuashu’s lips, we heard the distant beat of a drum resounding harshly over the forest. It was not the low musical note, full and vibrant, but a peculiarly hard, penetrating noise, resembling the rapid blows of an axe on some fallen tree-trunk. The signal drum or tundai of the Jivaros is just a log of hard wood, carefully hollowed out by hand and slung between a couple of poles for support. It is beaten with a club and the sound emitted has remarkable carrying qualities. If anything of moment ever occurs in the locality, the news is spread from house to house through the medium of the tundai. It also plays a prominent part on all festive occasions.’
[2]
’First, the tunduí is beaten at the feasts when the narcotics nate´ma or maikoa are ceremonially consumed. In this case the drumming is in very slow time’
[3]
’Secondly, the Jibaros beat the tunduí at the feasts (nambeŕa) where the ordinary manioc-beer (nihamańchi) or the beer made of the fruit of the chontaruŕu palm is ceremonially consumed.’
[3]
’In both these cases the spirits (iguańchi), and not human beings, are summoned by means of the tunduí. But thirdly, the Indians use the signal drum to summon their human friends in two events, namely, when a death has taken place in a house and when enemies are [112] making an attack upon it. Since a death is always set down by the Jibaros to the secret machinations of some enemy sorcerer, the situation in the two events is essentially the same. The beating of the drum is a cry for help, or a notification that a crime has been committed. In this third case, i.e. when the drum is beaten for the purpose of giving friends notice of danger, the signalling consists of a series of short, fast strokes in a tone which, in each series, is at first forte or fortissimo and thereafter gradually diminishes. This is repeated several times. This particular mode of signalling is called Pakinmawae.”’
[4]
’“The big signal drum of the Jibaros, called tundúi, also plays a part in the wars, although originally it seems to have been a purely religious instrument. At times when there is fear of an attack of enemies it is placed outside the house on the hill, and the beats may then be heard at a distance of several miles. The drum tundúi is beaten when the Jibaros drink the narcotics maikoa and natéma-in which case the object is to summon the spirits that inhabit these sacred drinks-also after a death, and lastly to give friends notice of an attack by enemies. In the latter case the signalling consists of a series of short and fast beats at a time which is at first forte or fortissimo and there-after gradually diminishes. When the friends in the other houses hear these beats they say: Pakinmawae, ‘they are killing’. Hence this whole mode of signaling is called Pakinmawae. As soon as the inhabitants of a house get knowledge of or suspect the presence of enemies, and also during the attack, if there is time for it, they try by beating the tundúi to summon their friends for rescue, and the singalling may sometimes cause the enemy, fearing the arrival of help, to give up his evil intention and take flight.”’
[5]
They did not use professional couriers or postal services.
[1]: Brüning, Hans H. 1928. “Travelling In The Aguaruna Region”, 74 [2]: Dyott, George Miller 1926. “On The Trail Of The Unknown In The Wilds Of Ecuador And The Amazon", 173 [3]: Karsten, Rafael 1935. “Head-Hunters Of Western Amazonas: The Life And Culture Of The Jibaro Indians Of Eastern Ecuador And Peru”, 111p [4]: Karsten, Rafael 1935. “Head-Hunters Of Western Amazonas: The Life And Culture Of The Jibaro Indians Of Eastern Ecuador And Peru", 111p [5]: Karsten, Rafael 1935. “Head-Hunters Of Western Amazonas: The Life And Culture Of The Jibaro Indians Of Eastern Ecuador And Peru”, 264 |
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Shuar communities transmitted messages through ceremonial and war drums: ’A few words must be said about the túndui, the wireless telephone of the Aguarunas. It consists of a hollowed-out tree trunk, about 100-120 cm. long and of a thickness of 30-35 cm. At each end there is a handle, one of which is used to grab it, the other as a support on the ground, so that the instrument is free to vibrate. On top of the drum there are four holes in one direction. Originally, these holes may have been used to hollow out the trunk, in the end they help with the resonance. (See Illustration number 4.) They beat the instrument with a short stick which is wound with vegetarian wool at one end. The sound differs depending on whether the drum is hit from the side or at the top. The messages are conveyed, in the manner of our Morse system, by a combination of these two sound possibilities. If the air is quiet, one is able to hear the túndui at a distance of several kilometers. The message is transmitted from one place to the other by a process of interception and further transmission.’
[1]
’“As we sat on the banks of the Upano, listening to the words of wisdom that fell from Kuashu’s lips, we heard the distant beat of a drum resounding harshly over the forest. It was not the low musical note, full and vibrant, but a peculiarly hard, penetrating noise, resembling the rapid blows of an axe on some fallen tree-trunk. The signal drum or tundai of the Jivaros is just a log of hard wood, carefully hollowed out by hand and slung between a couple of poles for support. It is beaten with a club and the sound emitted has remarkable carrying qualities. If anything of moment ever occurs in the locality, the news is spread from house to house through the medium of the tundai. It also plays a prominent part on all festive occasions.’
[2]
’First, the tunduí is beaten at the feasts when the narcotics nate´ma or maikoa are ceremonially consumed. In this case the drumming is in very slow time’
[3]
’Secondly, the Jibaros beat the tunduí at the feasts (nambeŕa) where the ordinary manioc-beer (nihamańchi) or the beer made of the fruit of the chontaruŕu palm is ceremonially consumed.’
[3]
’In both these cases the spirits (iguańchi), and not human beings, are summoned by means of the tunduí. But thirdly, the Indians use the signal drum to summon their human friends in two events, namely, when a death has taken place in a house and when enemies are [112] making an attack upon it. Since a death is always set down by the Jibaros to the secret machinations of some enemy sorcerer, the situation in the two events is essentially the same. The beating of the drum is a cry for help, or a notification that a crime has been committed. In this third case, i.e. when the drum is beaten for the purpose of giving friends notice of danger, the signalling consists of a series of short, fast strokes in a tone which, in each series, is at first forte or fortissimo and thereafter gradually diminishes. This is repeated several times. This particular mode of signalling is called Pakinmawae.”’
[4]
’“The big signal drum of the Jibaros, called tundúi, also plays a part in the wars, although originally it seems to have been a purely religious instrument. At times when there is fear of an attack of enemies it is placed outside the house on the hill, and the beats may then be heard at a distance of several miles. The drum tundúi is beaten when the Jibaros drink the narcotics maikoa and natéma-in which case the object is to summon the spirits that inhabit these sacred drinks-also after a death, and lastly to give friends notice of an attack by enemies. In the latter case the signalling consists of a series of short and fast beats at a time which is at first forte or fortissimo and there-after gradually diminishes. When the friends in the other houses hear these beats they say: Pakinmawae, ‘they are killing’. Hence this whole mode of signaling is called Pakinmawae. As soon as the inhabitants of a house get knowledge of or suspect the presence of enemies, and also during the attack, if there is time for it, they try by beating the tundúi to summon their friends for rescue, and the singalling may sometimes cause the enemy, fearing the arrival of help, to give up his evil intention and take flight.”’
[5]
They did not use professional couriers or postal services.
[1]: Brüning, Hans H. 1928. “Travelling In The Aguaruna Region”, 74 [2]: Dyott, George Miller 1926. “On The Trail Of The Unknown In The Wilds Of Ecuador And The Amazon", 173 [3]: Karsten, Rafael 1935. “Head-Hunters Of Western Amazonas: The Life And Culture Of The Jibaro Indians Of Eastern Ecuador And Peru”, 111p [4]: Karsten, Rafael 1935. “Head-Hunters Of Western Amazonas: The Life And Culture Of The Jibaro Indians Of Eastern Ecuador And Peru", 111p [5]: Karsten, Rafael 1935. “Head-Hunters Of Western Amazonas: The Life And Culture Of The Jibaro Indians Of Eastern Ecuador And Peru”, 264 |
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Sources do not suggest there is evidence for a postal system during this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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|
Sources do not suggest there is evidence for a postal system during this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Hmong families and villages sent out relatives and other community members on the occasion of festivals. These were not professionals: ’After the autumn harvest has been completed and the first frost has arrived, an auspicious day is chosen to sacrifice to the kuei. Half a month before, four paternal male cousins are asked to go separately to where the relatives live to notify them. The most important relatives are the families of the hosts mother’s brother and the wife’s maternal uncle, who are said to be the “leg-bearing relatives.” They are so-called because after sacrificing to the kuei, one leg of the buffalo is given to the maternal uncle’s relatives. A buffalo is divided into four legs. The first belongs to the /host’s/ mother’s brother, the second to the wife’s maternal uncle, and the third and fourth are sent to other close relatives. The “leg-bearing relatives on receiving the notification presents the messenger with a strip of red cloth as an expression of gratitude.’
[1]
’A few days before “Welcoming the Dragon,” messengers must be sent to the family of the wife of the mother’s brother /chiu-mu; is this an inversion of mu-chiu, “mother’s brother”?/ to convey the tidings. The host personally goes to engage the services of two Miao sorcerers. The relatives /of the same clan/ in the village are also asked to come to help. For this affair they prepare three kinds of mi-pa, the thunder pa, the dragon pa, and the guest pa, and in addition, a rice dragon must be made.’
[2]
[1]: Ling, Shun-sheng, Yifu Ruey, and Lien-en Tsao 1947. “Report On An Investigation Of The Miao Of Western Hunan”, 208 [2]: Ling, Shun-sheng, Yifu Ruey, and Lien-en Tsao 1947. “Report On An Investigation Of The Miao Of Western Hunan”, 233 |
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No evidence for writing or other record-keeping devices.
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Sources do not suggest there is evidence for a postal system during this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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Traditionally, messages were communicated through shell signals rather than couriers: ’A custom destroying marital fidelity in a really systematic fashion is the mosou. That is, on a shell signal all the men must gather in the men’s house, so that their wives are alone at home. Anyone can go to them at night without being punished, since, indeed, his wife too is abandoned.’
[1]
’The chief does all these duties in the kobu[unknown], the public meeting. Men as well as women are invited to this kobu[unknown]. All the participants are called together by the blowing of the large shell from the chief’s house. The kobu[unknown] takes place in the udd, the large men’s house. All the dealings of the tribe are discussed in it, marital matters, land matters, quarrels, in short, all the linen, whether clean or dirty, is spread out before all eyes. Everybody is allowed to talk and present his complaints. Of course there is no lack of amusing scenes too. Sometimes the people become so excited that the parties insult each other, grab each other, and come to blows, so that the meeting has to be dissolved.’
[2]
’It is said of the old chiefs that they always had the blow shell beside them. When the puk, puk of the shell resounded from the chief’s house, the people knew its meaning immediately. They quickly came running in order to /117/ learn the wishes of the tyrant. At one time he would desire kon (pounded breadfruit), at another time fish, then [Page 128] bananas, then coconuts to drink. The chiefs today no longer dare commit these outrages but they still have sufficient means to obtain some things on the side. They announce a dance, for example, or hold an efilul (celebration in connection with house-building, held when the frame is erected). They certainly do not come out short at the feast connected with this. As a matter of fact, most chiefs understand very well how to entice from their people whatever they might like to have.’
[3]
’The risks of nocturnal trysts are increased by a curfew, instituted under the Japanese to curb such behavior, and continued to the present by the island chiefs. A conch is blown at about nine o’clock by the island policeman or secretary as a signal for all who are not fishing or otherwise legitimately occupied to remain in their houses. Anyone who is seen and recognized thereafter at any distance from his own house is called before the chief and is usually at a loss to explain himself. This does not, however, involve the girl whom he intended to meet or met (unless he has just escaped from the house amid hue and cry and is thus identified), and the worst consequence is usually a few days of enforced labor on the island’s paths, to which little stigma is attached.’
[4]
’In former times an important item in a chief’s equipment was the conch-shell trumpet ( sewi). It could be blown only by the chief, himself, and was not used except to summon his people to an important meeting on an emergency matter. Nowadays the conch is used to call the people to routine meetings, to community work, and to Protestant [Page 145] church services. The prohibition against unauthorized persons blowing it has been relaxed.’
[5]
Islanders also used special calls when communicating with each other over a longer distance: ’The hearing, like the eyes of the natives, is also acute. They call to one another over long distances and make them-selves understood. The caller puts his hands trumpet-like to his mouth and shouts through them. If the one called has understood, [Page 239] he answers in the same way. When calling, the first syllables are uttered quickly, whereas the latter ones are stressed slowly and strongly.’
[6]
[1]: Bollig, Laurentius 1927. “Inhabitants Of The Truk Islands: Religion, Life And A Short Grammar Of A Micronesian People”, 106 [2]: Bollig, Laurentius 1927. “Inhabitants Of The Truk Islands: Religion, Life And A Short Grammar Of A Micronesian People”, 126 [3]: Bollig, Laurentius 1927. “Inhabitants Of The Truk Islands: Religion, Life And A Short Grammar Of A Micronesian People”, 127 [4]: Gladwin, Thomas, and Seymour Bernard Sarason 1953. “Truk: Man In Paradise”, 108 [5]: Goodenough, Ward Hunt 1951. “Property, Kin, And Community On Truk”, 144 [6]: Bollig, Laurentius 1927. “Inhabitants Of The Truk Islands: Religion, Life And A Short Grammar Of A Micronesian People”, 238 |
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Traditionally, messages were communicated through shell signals rather than couriers: ’A custom destroying marital fidelity in a really systematic fashion is the mosou. That is, on a shell signal all the men must gather in the men’s house, so that their wives are alone at home. Anyone can go to them at night without being punished, since, indeed, his wife too is abandoned.’
[1]
’The chief does all these duties in the kobu[unknown], the public meeting. Men as well as women are invited to this kobu[unknown]. All the participants are called together by the blowing of the large shell from the chief’s house. The kobu[unknown] takes place in the udd, the large men’s house. All the dealings of the tribe are discussed in it, marital matters, land matters, quarrels, in short, all the linen, whether clean or dirty, is spread out before all eyes. Everybody is allowed to talk and present his complaints. Of course there is no lack of amusing scenes too. Sometimes the people become so excited that the parties insult each other, grab each other, and come to blows, so that the meeting has to be dissolved.’
[2]
’It is said of the old chiefs that they always had the blow shell beside them. When the puk, puk of the shell resounded from the chief’s house, the people knew its meaning immediately. They quickly came running in order to /117/ learn the wishes of the tyrant. At one time he would desire kon (pounded breadfruit), at another time fish, then [Page 128] bananas, then coconuts to drink. The chiefs today no longer dare commit these outrages but they still have sufficient means to obtain some things on the side. They announce a dance, for example, or hold an efilul (celebration in connection with house-building, held when the frame is erected). They certainly do not come out short at the feast connected with this. As a matter of fact, most chiefs understand very well how to entice from their people whatever they might like to have.’
[3]
’The risks of nocturnal trysts are increased by a curfew, instituted under the Japanese to curb such behavior, and continued to the present by the island chiefs. A conch is blown at about nine o’clock by the island policeman or secretary as a signal for all who are not fishing or otherwise legitimately occupied to remain in their houses. Anyone who is seen and recognized thereafter at any distance from his own house is called before the chief and is usually at a loss to explain himself. This does not, however, involve the girl whom he intended to meet or met (unless he has just escaped from the house amid hue and cry and is thus identified), and the worst consequence is usually a few days of enforced labor on the island’s paths, to which little stigma is attached.’
[4]
’In former times an important item in a chief’s equipment was the conch-shell trumpet ( sewi). It could be blown only by the chief, himself, and was not used except to summon his people to an important meeting on an emergency matter. Nowadays the conch is used to call the people to routine meetings, to community work, and to Protestant [Page 145] church services. The prohibition against unauthorized persons blowing it has been relaxed.’
[5]
Islanders also used special calls when communicating with each other over a larger distance: ’The hearing, like the eyes of the natives, is also acute. They call to one another over long distances and make them-selves understood. The caller puts his hands trumpet-like to his mouth and shouts through them. If the one called has understood, [Page 239] he answers in the same way. When calling, the first syllables are uttered quickly, whereas the latter ones are stressed slowly and strongly.’
[6]
[1]: Bollig, Laurentius 1927. “Inhabitants Of The Truk Islands: Religion, Life And A Short Grammar Of A Micronesian People”, 106 [2]: Bollig, Laurentius 1927. “Inhabitants Of The Truk Islands: Religion, Life And A Short Grammar Of A Micronesian People”, 126 [3]: Bollig, Laurentius 1927. “Inhabitants Of The Truk Islands: Religion, Life And A Short Grammar Of A Micronesian People”, 127 [4]: Gladwin, Thomas, and Seymour Bernard Sarason 1953. “Truk: Man In Paradise”, 108 [5]: Goodenough, Ward Hunt 1951. “Property, Kin, And Community On Truk”, 144 [6]: Bollig, Laurentius 1927. “Inhabitants Of The Truk Islands: Religion, Life And A Short Grammar Of A Micronesian People”, 238 |
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Travellers, sound-signals, and emissaries communicated information to other groups, but not professional runners were used: ’So much at present for the native theories of the manner in which the Taro is passed on. In reality the movement has spread in two ways. (a) The common way is for travellers or visitors to acquire the cult and return to inaugurate it in their own villagers; this is merely contact transmission. (b) The other way is that of active proselytism. One or two examples will illustrate these methods.’
[1]
’Trumpets. The Orokaiva chorus is accompanied not only by drums but usually also by a conch shell, blown by one of the most juvenile of the performers. This instrument adds much to the volume but little to the harmony of the concert. It is commonly a large spiral shell with a hole, but an alternative, somewhat rarely seen, is made of wood. Both are called hui. The principal use of the hui is for making sound-signals, such as the alarm of war, the announcement of a death, or the approach of a party bearing a pig. For such purposes there are distinctive rhythms of long and short notes, though it cannot be said that they amount to any elaborate system.’
[2]
’In the article referred to elsewhere in this report, viz. ‘The Movements of the Tribes of the Mambare Division of Northern Papua’ (Chinnery and Beaver), there is an interesting anecdote, still well remembered in the region of which it is told. The Binandele, led by a man Waia, had been raiding on the river Gira, and searching for their real enemies had in error attacked the Yema tribe, killed the chief, and captured a youth Jiani. For this unhappy mistake Waia expresses his sorrow, and desires that Kewatai, the absent son of the chief, be sent on a visit to the Binandele country in order to effect reconciliation and alliance.’
[3]
[1]: Williams, F. E. (Francis Edgar) 1928. “Orokaiva Magic”, 17 [2]: Williams, F. E. (Francis Edgar), and Hubert Murray. 1930. “Orokaiva Society”, 87p [3]: Williams, F. E. (Francis Edgar), and Hubert Murray 1930. “Orokaiva Society”, 126 |
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Travellers, sound-signals, and emissaries communicated information to other groups, but no professional runners were used: ’So much at present for the native theories of the manner in which the Taro is passed on. In reality the movement has spread in two ways. (a) The common way is for travellers or visitors to acquire the cult and return to inaugurate it in their own villagers; this is merely contact transmission. (b) The other way is that of active proselytism. One or two examples will illustrate these methods.’
[1]
’Trumpets. The Orokaiva chorus is accompanied not only by drums but usually also by a conch shell, blown by one of the most juvenile of the performers. This instrument adds much to the volume but little to the harmony of the concert. It is commonly a large spiral shell with a hole, but an alternative, somewhat rarely seen, is made of wood. Both are called hui. The principal use of the hui is for making sound-signals, such as the alarm of war, the announcement of a death, or the approach of a party bearing a pig. For such purposes there are distinctive rhythms of long and short notes, though it cannot be said that they amount to any elaborate system.’
[2]
’In the article referred to elsewhere in this report, viz. ‘The Movements of the Tribes of the Mambare Division of Northern Papua’ (Chinnery and Beaver), there is an interesting anecdote, still well remembered in the region of which it is told. The Binandele, led by a man Waia, had been raiding on the river Gira, and searching for their real enemies had in error attacked the Yema tribe, killed the chief, and captured a youth Jiani. For this unhappy mistake Waia expresses his sorrow, and desires that Kewatai, the absent son of the chief, be sent on a visit to the Binandele country in order to effect reconciliation and alliance.’
[3]
[1]: Williams, F. E. (Francis Edgar) 1928. “Orokaiva Magic”, 17 [2]: Williams, F. E. (Francis Edgar), and Hubert Murray. 1930. “Orokaiva Society”, 87p [3]: Williams, F. E. (Francis Edgar), and Hubert Murray 1930. “Orokaiva Society”, 126 |
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Sources do not suggest there is evidence for a postal system during this period.
[1]
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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It is likely that the political core in Zhengzhou communicated to the elites in the regions, such as at Panlongcheng, through messengers.
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Basic system of messaging must have been present for the Jin government, as it probably was for the Chu.
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China had record of relay station as early as Zhou (700-1000 BCE)
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The Western Zhou government system would have required specialist couriers.
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simply bureaucracy would likely have used messengers.
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Centralized Theban state and high officials likely to have communicated using individuals to carry personal messages.
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Likely only for the wealthy.
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but only for the wealthy.
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Level of development high enough to mint coins, likely high enough for full-time messengers.
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“Reflecting the entire Dahomean body politic, the Great Council was composed, not only of men, but also of women who were active participants in all levels of the civil and military structures of government in Dahomey. In order to maintain surveillance over the country, the king appointed a royal wife as a counterpart to every male official from the Minister of Defence down to the royal Ilari messengers.”
[1]
[1]: Yoder, J. C. (1974). Fly and Elephant Parties: Political Polarization in Dahomey, 1840-1870. The Journal of African History, 15(3), 417–432: 419. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/KNUC3TGF/collection |
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"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"
[1]
[1]: (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 |
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Inferred from the fact that the Abbasids (that is, the Ziyadids’ predecessors) likely established a postal system across their empire:
"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." [1] [1]: (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 |
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Norman England maintained a network of royal messengers and ecclesiastical couriers employed full-time to carry messages and documents. [Clanchy 1993], [Carpenter 2003]
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"In an effort to establish a quick postal service, Adud al-Daula concentrated on improving the roads between Baghdad and Shīrāz."
[1]
a ’hamami’ was a "despatcher of carrier pigeons and letters from one town to another" in Iraq, Egypt and Syria: 9th, 10th 11th CE.
[2]
However, “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).” [3] [1]: (Busse 1975, 283) [2]: (Shatzmiller 1994, 140) Shatzmiller, Maya. 1994. Labour in the Medieval Islamic World. E. J. BRILL. Leiden. [3]: (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 |
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“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.”
[1]
“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” [2] 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". [1]: (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 [2]: (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 |
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"The advent of the Parthians did not mark a break in the cultural history of the Greek cities, which retained their constitutions and magistrates, their schools, language, and law, long after the decline of Seleucid power."
[1]
Seleucids took over the Persian postal system. "... originally post stations on the main roads, the Seleucids having taken over the Persian postal system - each stathmos being the centre of a subdivision comprising so many villages." [2] [1]: (Neusner 2008, 10) Neusner, Jacob. 2008. A History of the Jews in Babylonia. 1. The Parthian Period. Wipf & Stock. Eugene. [2]: (Tam 2010, 2) Tam, W W. 2010. The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge University Press. |
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"Except for the sovereign’s close relations (such as uncles at the start of a reign or eldest sons at the end), the most listened-to advisers were people of humbler origins. They belonged to appointed families that regularly furnished their young for service at the court. These youths literally made their careers by distinguishing themselves before the king for their bravery, wisdom, and loyalty; when they grew to maturity, they became notables, whom the sovereign consulted regularly and who constituted the monarchy’s real government. The king gathered their advice before making major decisions, or he sent them to the provinces for special assignments. [...] In Bunyoro and Nkore , some were the king’s messengers."
[1]
[1]: (Chrétien 2006: 173-174) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/FXCVWDRI/collection. |
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Postal system mentioned in the following quote.
“Most of the dated caravanserais are from the period before the disturbances of the year 659/1261. One group clusters around the Phrygian hills near the source of the Sangarios, between modern Afyonkarahisar and Seyitgazi, and two more survive in the Maeander region, near the town of Denizli. Unfortunately, the inscriptions from the northern set of caravanserais have not survived, although that at Deve Han near Seyitgazi was apparently constructed in 1207–1208, and Egret Han perhaps in 1260. Slightly further from the frontier lies an earlier caravanserai, the Çardak Han, built in 627/1230. As we shall see, there is also literary evidence of other caravanserais in the area that have not survived. The caravanserais, traditionally thought to have been used as rest places for itinerant caravans, suggest cross-border trade, linking the western peripheries of the Seljuk state and the Nicaean Empire to the major economic centres in central Anatolia, Konya and Kayseri, and to Seljuk emporia on the Mediterranean. However, there are few such buildings on the Nicaean side of the border, and it has been suggested that commerce was just one function of caravanserais. They also projected and symbolised the power of the Seljuk state and its officials who built them, and served a variety of purposes to facilitate state administration, among them accommodation for itinerant officials or even sultans, as part of the postal and intelligence system, and supporting tax collection and military manoeuvres.” [1] [1]: (Peacock 2014, 278) A.C.S. Peacock (2014) The Seljuk Sultanate of Rūm and the Turkmen of the Byzantine frontier, 1206–1279*, Al-Masāq, 26:3, 267-287, DOI: 10.1080/09503110.2014.956476. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DE43VD2V/library |
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“ In time Ursins heard stories of the princess’ willfulness, but her courier was unable to halt the marriage by proxy of Felipe V and Elizabeth Farnese in the Cathedral of Parma on September 16, 1714. Henceforth she would be known as Isabel Farnese.”(Bergamini 1974: 50) Bergamini, John D. 1974. The Spanish Bourbons: The History of a Tenacious Dynasty. New York: G. P Putnam’s Sons. https://archive.org/details/spanishbourbons00john. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5A2HNKTF
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The Ministry of War operated the courier system with military labor. The Ministry of War produced a guide, Network of Routes Connecting the Realm (Hyanyu tongue). This cheaply printed handbook, first published in 1394 CE, lists all courier routes in the country along with the 1,706 station serving them. Use of the system required a pass that specified the route and the mode of transport.
[1]
[1]: (Brook, 2010, p.31) |
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"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. Ogodei did not invent the system that goes back nearly two thousand years. Athough the Tuoba rulers of what is now northern China had a similar system in the fourth and fifth centuries, it appears to have been implemented already by the Honno, the first steppe empire in history, an empire contemporary with the Roman Empire and ruled by a Turkic tribe."
[1]
[1]: (Avery 2003, 40) |
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It is likely that the political core communicated to the elites in the regions using messengers.
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specialist messengers likely used by the government
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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."
[1]
[1]: (? 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. |
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Present in Timurid times, perhaps maintained in succeeding khaganates.
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There were mounted couriers during Yuan. Beneath the courier system and parallel to it, the Ministry of War also operated a postal system to move routine government communications. The system relied on runners rather than mounted messengers. The runners wore large belts, set all round with bells, so that when they ran there were audible at a great distance.
[1]
"The most remarkable improvement in transport involved the postal relay system. China had had postal stations and relays at least since the Han dynasty, but the Mongolian rulers vastly extended the system. The postal stations were designed for the transmission and delivery of official mail, but they were also available to traveling officials, military men, and foreign state guests, aided in the transport of foreign and domestic tribute, and facilitated trade. They were not intended as hostels for merchants, but they came to be used as such and were vital links in the networks of foreign and domestic commerce. By the end of Khubilai’s reign, China had more than 1,400 postal stations, which in turn had at their disposal about 50,000 horses, 1,400 oxen, 6,700 mules, 4,000 carts, almost 6,000 boats, over 200 dogs, and 1,150 sheep. The individual stations were anywhere from fifteen to forty miles apart, and the attendants worked in the stations as part of their corvee obligations. In an emergency, the rider-messengers could cover up to 250 miles a day to deliver significant news, a remarkably efficient mail service for the thirteenth, or any other, century. Despite abuses by officials, merchants, and attendants, the postal system operated efficiently, a fact to which numerous foreign travelers, including Marco Polo, have attested."
[2]
[1]: (Brook, 2010, p.30) [2]: (Rossabi, M. 1994. The reign of Khubilai khan. In Franke, H. and D. Twitchett (eds) The Cambridge History of China, volume 6: Alien Regimes and Border States, 710-1368 pp. 414-489. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. P. 450) |
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Altogether, those artifacts and architecture indicate the beginning of bureaucracy apparatus on the quite developed if not centralized level. Not all scientists, however, agree that existence of full-time, centralized bureaucracy is without any doubt. They rather talk about a “simple form of administration.”
[1]
Messengers would be part of a simple form of administration.
[1]: Wengrow, D. 2006. The Archaeology of Early Egypt. Social Transformation of North-East Africa, 10,000 to 2650 BC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pg:264. |
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"Messengers."
[1]
Mounted messengers.
[2]
(Thut III - Am II period). "Inscription from the tomb of Vizier Rh-mi-r’" states the duties of the vizier. "It is he who dispatches every messenger of the pr-nswt sent to the mayors and the settlement-leaders; is he who dispatches everyone who will circulate all messages of the pr-nswt."
[3]
[1]: (Spalinger 2013, 408) [2]: (Healey 1992) [3]: (Pagliari 2012, 726) Pagliari, Giulia. 2012. Function and significance of ancient Egyptian royal palaces from the Middle Kingdom to the Saite period: a lexicographical study and its possible connection with the archaeological evidence. Ph.D. thesis. University of Birmingham. |
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"Messengers."
[1]
Mounted messengers.
[2]
(Thut III - Am II period). "Inscription from the tomb of Vizier Rh-mi-r’" states the duties of the vizier. "It is he who dispatches every messenger of the pr-nswt sent to the mayors and the settlement-leaders; is he who dispatches everyone who will circulate all messages of the pr-nswt."
[3]
[1]: (Spalinger 2013, 408) [2]: (Healey 1992) [3]: (Pagliari 2012, 726) Pagliari, Giulia. 2012. Function and significance of ancient Egyptian royal palaces from the Middle Kingdom to the Saite period: a lexicographical study and its possible connection with the archaeological evidence. Ph.D. thesis. University of Birmingham. |
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[1]
Royal couriers carried messages and directives of the court. a ’hamami’ was a "despatcher of carrier pigeons and letters from one town to another" in Iraq, Egypt and Syria: 9th, 10th 11th CE.
[2]
[1]: Silverstein, Adam J. Postal systems in the pre-modern Islamic world p. 77-78, [2]: (Shatzmiller 1993, 140) Shatzmiller, Maya. 1994. Labour in the Medieval Islamic World. E. J. BRILL. Leiden. |
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“A regular postal service was set up between Valencia and Madrid in the early sixteenth century, with riders guaranteeing to cover a minimum of ten leagues a day, and if they were paid extra, up to twenty leagues (112 km).”
[1]
[1]: (Casey 2002, 14) Casey, James. 2002. Early Modern Spain: A Social History. New York: Routledge. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2SNTRSWT |
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"the king of kings evidently had at his disposal an armed retinue which in peacetime consisted of his court, but in wartime of his guards (as in fourteenth-century Ethiopia). Apparently, court officials carried out the functions of government, serving, for instance, as envoys."
[1]
[1]: (Kobishanov 1981, 385) Y M. Kobishanov. Aksum: political system, economics and culture, first to fourth century. Muḥammad Jamal al-Din Mokhtar. ed. 1981. UNESCO General History of Africa. Volume II. Heinemann. UNESCO. California. |
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Foot messengers and couriers.
[1]
End of 13th century there were "specialised carriers" of goods from Italian merchants in Italy. They could deliver spices directly to Paris. This by-passed and helped lead to the demise of the International Fairs.
[2]
[1]: (Boyer 1995, 1748-1751) [2]: (Spufford 2006, 148) |
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Level of development high enough to mint coins, likely high enough for full-time messengers.
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Sarbah describe the use of messengers: ’Where it is decided to contest the claim, the plaintiff with the court fee seeks the court linguist, and tells him his plaint for the information of the ruler and his council. Thereupon a messenger is sent to the defendant and the head of his family (if known) to summon him to the trial, telling him the plaint and requesting him to bring his witnesses at the trial, the date of which is given him. In some districts, for example Akim, the messenger is sent only to the headman of defendant’s family, and not to himself; if the headman is not found, it seems the Odzikuro of the village or some inmate of the family abode should be informed; the date for appearance is not fixed, but the defendant has to appear with reasonable despatch. In former days, a person failing to appear and unable to give a reasonable excuse for his absence was guilty of contempt, and fined, in addition to being brought by force. No case is heard in default of appearance; an opportunity is given to every defendant, and no one is to be condemned unheard.’
[1]
’An Ohene, or man of rank, coming to a town, ought to send messengers in advance to announce the time of his arrival, in order that the people may receive him with the customary honour due to his rank. Likewise, where such a person or some armed men intend to pass through a town, must timely notice be given to the head ruler of the town, and to the headman of the particular quarter where [Page 49] they will pass. Armed men are not allowed to enter a town without permission first had and obtained. The order of precedence is that the lower grade or inferiors go in front of the superior, who is always surrounded by his personal retinue, and arrives last.’
[2]
He does not clarify whether these were ’specialists’ in the strict sense of the term. We have assumed this to be the case, given the use of couriers in the Ashanti period. This is open to re-evaluation.
[1]: Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. “Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asanti, And Other Akan Tribes Of West Africa Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration Of Early English Voyages, And A Study Of The Rise Of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.”, 35 [2]: Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. “Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asanti, And Other Akan Tribes Of West Africa Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration Of Early English Voyages, And A Study Of The Rise Of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.”, 48p |
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’Couriers carried both verbal messages, which they were trained to memorize, and written communications. They also served as guides to missions and embassies travelling to or from the capital. In each and every capacity, however, they were required to have a knowledge of the roads and of the distances from one place to another. This was their nkontaabuo.’
[1]
’[The afenasoafo] were expected to adhere to firm travelling schedules. Couriers to Elmina in 1816, for example, were sworn on oath to arrive there within nine or ten days. In 1817 it took almost two hours to brief couriers bound for Cape Coast. ‘Nine days’, reported Bowdich, who was present on the occasion, ‘are allowed for the journey to Cape Coast, and nine for the return.’ Half a century later little had changed. When a mission was despatched to Cape Coast in 1872, it was reported that the Asantehene ‘fixed the ambassadors 20 days to and fro’. It was, then, the regulated movement of couriers along the roads, rather than that of soldiers or traders, which provided the Asante with a notion of a standard speed. The business of a soldier was fighting, and of a trader, trading, but the business of a courier was, in a very real sense, travelling.’
[2]
[1]: Wilks, Ivor 1993. “Forests Of Gold: Essays On The Akan And The Kingdom Of Asante”, 195 [2]: Wilks, Ivor 1992. “On Mentally Mapping Greater Asante: A Study Of Time And Motion”, 179 |
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According to Ibn Battutah, it took five days for runners, called dhawahs, (and horsemen) to travel from Sind to Delhi, using relay stations with runners ready to continue the journey.
[1]
[1]: Qureshi, I. H. (1971). The administration of the Sultanate of Delhi (p. 93). Oriental Books Reprint Corporation; exclusively distributed by Munshiram Manoharlal, pp. 211-212. |
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Journals and newspapers were distributed among small educated neo-elites, but not to the general population: ‘Most of the writings before 1940 had religious intonation though secular form of literature began in 1924. Before this, there were only two journals in Garo language-one was the A’chikni Ripeng or “Friend of the Garos”, a powerful organ of the American Baptist Mission started in 1879. Since the journal was meant for propagation of plans and policies of the American Baptist Mission, articles dealing with one’s freedom of thought and expression were not accepted and published in it. The other journal, which was brought out in October, 1912 by three local leaders, namely Jobang D. Marak, Modhunath G. Momin and Alexander Macdonald Bassamoit, was Phringphrang or “Morning Star”. This journal, which was supposed to be secular in nature, was not very much different from the A’chikni Ripeng as most of the articles there, were connected with religion. The journal had its last publication in December, 1914 after which there were no more secular journals.’
[1]
We have assumed that some form of postal or courier service was present in the town.
[1]: Shira, Lindrid D. 1995. “Renaissance In Garo Literature”, 176 |
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"Couriers (Dutas) are to be paid ten panans for carrying messages up to ten yojanas."
[1]
Kautilya in the Arthashastra wrote "A messenger of middle quality shall receive 10 panas for each yojana he travels; and twice as much when he travels from 10 to 100 yojanas."
[2]
[1]: Radhakumud Mookerj, Chandragupta Maurya and His Times, Motilal Banarsidass Publications (1966), p.87. [2]: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Arthashastra/ |
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[1]
Royal couriers carried messages and directives of the court. a ’hamami’ was a "despatcher of carrier pigeons and letters from one town to another" in Iraq, Egypt and Syria: 9th, 10th 11th CE.
[2]
[1]: Silverstein, Adam J. Postal systems in the pre-modern Islamic world p. 77-78, [2]: (Shatzmiller 1993, 140) Shatzmiller, Maya. 1994. Labour in the Medieval Islamic World. E. J. BRILL. Leiden. |
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Shamshi-Adad had such a rapid courier service that he sometimes dated and timed his messages. Old Babylonia also had fire signals that could be used to send messages, though quite often the signals were not pre-established and the messages miscommunicated
[1]
[1]: Oates, J. Babylon. Revised Edition. London: Thames and Hudson. p.70 |
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"Members of the warband regularly filled important posts in the sultan’s : "outer service" (birun) or ministry of court (darbar), such as the positions of chamberlain (qapuchi, eshik-aqasi),37 keeper of the seal (muhrdar), and equerry (amirakhur). They were also frequently appointed guardians (lala) to the royal princes38 and commanders (darugha) of royal garrisons in urban centers). In addition, a host of nonmilitary, non administrative service personnel including falconers, cooks, librarians, musicians, armorers, couriers, messengers, post riders, and heralds were attached to the court and thus technically considered part of the royal bodyguard."
[1]
[1]: (Wells 1998, 14) |
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|
Present in the Ur III period
[1]
but not mentioned after then. "Las tablillas del archivo de Haft-Tepe exhumadas en la zona del palacio real, aunque en es- tado fragmentario y no muy ilustrativas, son interesantes. Puede apreciarse en ellas un activo comercio entre Elam y Babilonia durante el reinado de ambos reyes, así como un continuo intercambio de mensajeros."
[2]
[1]: (Potts 1999, 137) [2]: (Quintana 2007, 51) |
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Present in the second millennium BCE but not mentioned for the Neo Elamite period.
|
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Isidore of Charax wrote "Parthian Stations" on the postal stations maintained by the Parthians.
[1]
"Roads were dotted with resting places or Caravanserais ... usually maintained by the local rulers, which provided the merchants and messengers, as well as their animals, an easy access to food, water, and fodder."
[2]
[1]: (Silverstein 2007, 13) Silverstein, Adam J. 2007. Postal Systems in the Pre-Modern Islamic World. Cambridge University Press. [2]: Rezakhani, Khodadad. 2016. Arsacid Society and Culture. Accessed 06.09.2016: https://iranologie.com/the-history-page/the-arsacid-empire/arsacid-society-and-culture/ |
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|
Isidore of Charax wrote "Parthian Stations" on the postal stations maintained by the Parthians.
[1]
"Roads were dotted with resting places or Caravanserais ... usually maintained by the local rulers, which provided the merchants and messengers, as well as their animals, an easy access to food, water, and fodder."
[2]
[1]: (Silverstein 2007, 13) Silverstein, Adam J. 2007. Postal Systems in the Pre-Modern Islamic World. Cambridge University Press. [2]: Rezakhani, Khodadad. 2016. Arsacid Society and Culture. Accessed 06.09.2016: https://iranologie.com/the-history-page/the-arsacid-empire/arsacid-society-and-culture/ |
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"The Safavid government maintained a postal system, mainly to relay messages and government orders. The couriers gradually came to be known as čāpār. The system of relay stations no longer existed, however. The čāpārs took riding animals wherever they could find them. They even had the right to make people dismount and give up their animals ... Riding animals actually came mostly from villagers, who would send somebody with the čāpār to retrieve the animal. The čāpārs, of course, did not dare to demand riding animals from important personages or Europeans."
[1]
Spies used the postal service to transmit intelligence.
[2]
[1]: (Floor 1990) Floor, Willem. 1990. ČĀPĀR. www.iranicaonline.org/articles/capar-or-capar-turk [2]: Farrokh, Kaveh. Iran at War, 1500-1988. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2011., chapter three. |
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A wakildar "brought messages between the sultan and the vizier."
[1]
a ’hamami’ was a "despatcher of carrier pigeons and letters from one town to another" in Iraq, Egypt and Syria: 9th, 10th 11th CE.
[2]
[1]: (Peacock 2015) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press. [2]: (Shatzmiller 1993, 140) Shatzmiller, Maya. 1994. Labour in the Medieval Islamic World. E. J. BRILL. Leiden. |
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"The Mari Age is undoubtedly a period for which it is possible to reconstruct the network of political relations of the ’Amorite’ world ... which can be considered as a cultural and linguistic continuum that spread from Syria to Elam with an unprecedented intensity and breadth of interaction. Akkadian became the preferred language for diplomatic relations and the administration of all the palaces of the area, even where the main spoken language was Hurrian or Amorite. Messengers and ambassadors had to travel extensively to deliver information, requests, gifts, and to prepare the route for merchants or troops."
[1]
[1]: (Leverani 2014, 229) Liverani, Mario. Tabatabai, Soraia trans. 2014. The Ancient Near East. History, society and economy. Routledge. London. |
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"the Sumerian civilisation which flourished before 3500 BC. This was an advanced civilisation building cities and supporting the people with irrigation systems, a legal system, administration, and even a postal service. Writing developed and counting was based on a sexagesimal system, that is to say base 60."
[1]
[1]: J J O’Connor, J J. Robertson, E F. December 2000. http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Babylonian_mathematics.html |
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"Before Augustus, Romans wanting to post a letter had to find a courier wherever they could, and work out the arrangements for delivery ad hoc. But by Cicero’s day [i.e. c100 BCE] there had evolved a number of fairly regular means by which one could send a letter." This included "a private system of letter carriers maintained by the publicani, whose business of collecting taxes in the provinces necessitated a reliable means of communication over long distances... a private individual could arrange for these couriers, called tabellarri, to carry personal letters along with the business correspondence of their companies."
[1]
Wealthly individuals kept personal couriers, tabellarri domestici.
[1]
The army had a citizen cavalry to deliver messages. Legionary cavalry contingents of 120 men were used primarily as scouts and couriers.
[2]
[1]: (Nicholson 1994) [2]: (McCall 2002, 172) |
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|
"Before Augustus, Romans wanting to post a letter had to find a courier wherever they could, and work out the arrangements for delivery ad hoc. But by Cicero’s day [i.e. c100 BCE] there had evolved a number of fairly regular means by which one could send a letter." This included "a private system of letter carriers maintained by the publicani, whose business of collecting taxes in the provinces necessitated a reliable means of communication over long distances... a private individual could arrange for these couriers, called tabellarri, to carry personal letters along with the business correspondence of their companies."
[1]
"The legion also had a detachment of 120 horsemen (equites legionis), typically employed as messengers and similar roles, rather than as cavalry in combat."
[2]
[1]: (Nicholson 1994) [2]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 36) |
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"Letters were the primary means of communication at this time, and their delibery was surprisingly reliable. A network of post-horses and couriers knit together the entire peninsula and connected Italian merchants to northern Europe. The specialists in this field since at least 1251 had been the Tasso family, of Bergamo in Lombardy. Omodeo, the founder, began with a courier service for the Venetian republic, operating a chain of postal stations between Venice and Milan and between Venice and Rome. In 1460, the Tasso family took exclusive charge of postal serice for the Papal States, a monopoly it held until 1539."
[1]
[1]: Ingrid Rowland. Noah Charney. 2017. The Collector of Lives: Giorgio Vasari and the Invention of Art. W. W. Norton & Company. |
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|
There seems to be uncertainty here. It’s difficult to imagine how a system of post stations can be set up without there being any full-time specialists involved in the transit of post/activity of messaging. Brown states unambiguously ’messengers’ likely were not professional at this time but also refers to post stations.
[1]
Full-time specialists could also be those recruited to man or maintain the post stations which were vital to those wanting to send messages. Even if those individuals actually given the post/messages to carry were not specialists, if those working at the essential post stations were full-time, this should be a code of present. Due to the uncertainty of fact/interpretation this code currently has a code of uncertain present.
[1]: (Brown 1993, 43, 198) Brown, Delmer M. 1993. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 1: Ancient Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press. |
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|
’the central government used these reports to prepare a table of legitimate uses of corvee labor and the number of workers who could be employed for each use. A few categories of work - repair of government buildings, construction of irrigation canals and embankments, courier service for government business, and the like-were left to the discretion of provincial officials.’
[1]
’Provincial administration required the building and maintenance of a network of highways and a post system.’
[2]
[1]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.209 [2]: Shively, Donald H. and McCullough, William H. 2008. The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge Histories Online Cambridge University Press.p.2 |
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‘They were utilized by the shogunate in the conduct of government business. Domain lords used couriers to maintain communications between their domain and Edo residences. Merchants—especially those in Edo, Osaka, and Kyoto—relied on couriers for the conduct of business between cities.’
[1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.328. |
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|
Coe (2003), citing Mabbett, states, ’Inevitably, a ruler lived spider-like at the centre of a huge web of activities, surrounded by an army of clerks, cleaners, attendants, cooks, porters, messengers, carters, valets, maintenance workers, engineers, and so forth.’
[1]
’Suryavarman II is famed as a great concjueror. For several years his soldiers dominated the northern Chams, whom he recruited as allies in a series of unsuccessful invasions of Dai Viet. The Khmers communicated with the northern Cham territories through mountain passes from the Mekong Valley, and, interestingly, the southern Cham territories appear not to have felt the power of Suryavarman II.’
[2]
’Indeed, the survival of the state itself turned on an efficient transport and communication system, and the roads of Jayavarman VII must have followed time-honoured routes. As Hendrickson (2007) has stressed, strategic resources were often confined to specific parts of the Kingdom: Phaimai supplied salt, Banteay Chhmar gold, and Preah Khan of Kompong Svay, iron.’ [3] [1]: (Coe 2003, p. 139) [2]: (Taylor 2008, p. 161) [3]: (Higham 2014b, pp. 389-390) |
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|
Coe (2003), citing Mabbett, states, ’Inevitably, a ruler lived spider-like at the centre of a huge web of activities, surrounded by an army of clerks, cleaners, attendants, cooks, porters, messengers, carters, valets, maintenance workers, engineers, and so forth.’
[1]
’Suryavarman II is famed as a great concjueror. For several years his soldiers dominated the northern Chams, whom he recruited as allies in a series of unsuccessful invasions of Dai Viet. The Khmers communicated with the northern Cham territories through mountain passes from the Mekong Valley, and, interestingly, the southern Cham territories appear not to have felt the power of Suryavarman II.’
[2]
[1]: (Coe 2003, p. 139) [2]: (Taylor 2008, p. 161) |
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|
Coe (2003), citing Mabbett, states, ’Inevitably, a ruler lived spider-like at the centre of a huge web of activities, surrounded by an army of clerks, cleaners, attendants, cooks, porters, messengers, carters, valets, maintenance workers, engineers, and so forth.’
[1]
’Suryavarman II is famed as a great concjueror. For several years his soldiers dominated the northern Chams, whom he recruited as allies in a series of unsuccessful invasions of Dai Viet. The Khmers communicated with the northern Cham territories through mountain passes from the Mekong Valley, and, interestingly, the southern Cham territories appear not to have felt the power of Suryavarman II.’
[2]
’Indeed, the survival of the state itself turned on an efficient transport and communication system, and the roads of Jayavarman VII must have followed time-honoured routes. As Hendrickson (2007) has stressed, strategic resources were often confined to specific parts of the Kingdom: Phaimai supplied salt, Banteay Chhmar gold, and Preah Khan of Kompong Svay, iron.’ [3] [1]: (Coe 2003, p. 139) [2]: (Taylor 2008, p. 161) [3]: (Higham 2014b, pp. 389-390) |
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|
Coe (2003), citing Mabbett, states, ’Inevitably, a ruler lived spider-like at the centre of a huge web of activities, surrounded by an army of clerks, cleaners, attendants, cooks, porters, messengers, carters, valets, maintenance workers, engineers, and so forth.’
[1]
’Suryavarman II is famed as a great concjueror. For several years his soldiers dominated the northern Chams, whom he recruited as allies in a series of unsuccessful invasions of Dai Viet. The Khmers communicated with the northern Cham territories through mountain passes from the Mekong Valley, and, interestingly, the southern Cham territories appear not to have felt the power of Suryavarman II.’
[2]
[1]: (Coe 2003, p. 139) [2]: (Taylor 2008, p. 161) |
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|
An important courier service connected the court to various cities and towns, guaranteeing the transmission of the Askia’s orders. "Un important service de courrier relie la cour aux différentes villes et chef-lieux assurant la transmission des ordres de l’Askia."
[1]
Letter writing was common.
[2]
[1]: (Niane 1975, 106) [2]: (Diop 1987, 114) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
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"Eventually the capital covered an area of 27 It: It was built on a standard Chinese plan with walls, gates, a street grid, palaces, ministry buildings, temples, courier stations, and so forth. It was in fact a dual city, for to the south was a separate Chinese city, with dense housing and markets. It also had a special quarter for the Uighur merchants, who played a major part in the trade of the north, and lodgings for envoys from foreign nations."
[1]
[1]: (Twitchett, D.C. and K. Tietze. 1994. The Liao. In Franke, H. and D.C. Twitchett (eds) The Cambridge History of China Volume 6: Alien Regimes and Border States, 907-1368 pp. 43-153. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. P. 63) |
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Government messengers are mentioned. To what extent where they full-time? "Government was maintained almost entirely by in-kind contributions. The commoners were required to give food, mounts, and other necessary supplies to government messengers and “feed” their own nobles, tabunangs, and the high officials."
[1]
[1]: (Atwood 2004, 421-422) |
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Sieroszewski mentions couriers, but their status as professionals is unclear: ’I spent the autumn of 1884 in the Kolymsk Ulus, at Engzha, in the home of the old man Ivan Sleptsov, who had just been chosen prince of the Second Kangalas Nasleg. Once, in the middle of October, a courier was sent to us from the valley of Ungdzha, with an invitation to a wedding. The clansmen invited their prince, and I was invited to come along. We had to travel approximately seventy versts on horse-back; we spent one night on the road and arrived at the home of the Yakut Dmitrii, who was holding the wedding, at daybreak on the next day. He was giving away his daughter in marriage, and the forthcoming festivity was the first and most important of the marriage ceremonies. Approaching the homestead we constantly outrode groups of mounted Yakut, while near the house we encountered a group of women leading a cow. These all were people belonging to the clan of the bride: they were hurrying to the wedding. The bridal trainof the bridegroom, it turned out, was riding behind us. It consisted of the father of the bridegroom, his uncle, the match-maker - some distant relative, and an elder cousin of the bridegroom. All of them were dressed in their best costumes, and rode on their best horses along the road in single file, one behind the other. At the very end of the procession rode the young bridegroom and led behind him a pair of horses, loaded with meat. The match-maker also led a pair of pack horses.’
[1]
On the other hand, the material on the growing postal system (see below) seems to support this.
[1]: Sieroszewski, Wacław 1993. “Yakut: An Experiment In Ethnographic Research”, 842 |
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|
a ’ḥamā’mi’ referred to those who trained "despatcher of carrier pigeons and letters from one town to another" in Iraq, Egypt and Syria: 9th, 10th 11th CE.
[1]
. “In the tenth century a commercial network came to exist alongside this state-run system, or at least its emergence is documented for the tenth century and especially for the Fatimid period, when merchants came to play an organized role in transmitting messages…Subsumed under this discussion is an examination of the postal systems in the parallel dynasties such as the tenth- and eleventh-century Fatimids in Egypt—who raised the use of pigeons to a whole new level”
[2]
.
[1]: (Shatzmiller 1993, 140) Shatzmiller, Maya. 1994. Labour in the Medieval Islamic World. E. J. BRILL. Leiden. [2]: (Matthee 2011, 366) Matthee, Rudi., 2011. Review of Postal Systems in the Pre-Modern Islamic World. Journal of World History 22(2). https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2S554ZK2/item-list |
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Hittite rulers had correspondence with rulers of the neighbouring countries. They needed an efficient system of couriers.
[1]
letters "dispatched by the king to his local officials"
[2]
[1]: Hoffner H. A. (2009) Letters from the Hittite Kingdom, Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature [2]: (Bryce 2002, 17) |
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|
Hittite rulers had correspondence with rulers of the neighbouring countries. They needed an efficient system of couriers.
[1]
Letters were "dispatched by the king to his local officials"
[2]
[1]: Hoffner H. A. (2009) Letters from the Hittite Kingdom, Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature [2]: (Bryce 2002, 17) |
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|
Hittite rulers had correspondence with rulers of the neighbouring countries. They needed an efficient system of couriers.
[1]
letters "dispatched by the king to his local officials"
[2]
[1]: Hoffner H. A. (2009) Letters from the Hittite Kingdom, Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature [2]: (Bryce 2002, 17) |
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|
"with the reign of Nasr II (r.914-43) the administrative bureaus of the Samanid state reached a level of complexity that could support an independent Barid system."
[1]
[1]: (Silverstein 2007, 126-127) Silverstein, Adam J. 2007. Postal Systems in the Pre-Modern Islamic World. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. |
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|
"Before Augustus, Romans wanting to post a letter had to find a courier wherever they could, and work out the arrangements for delivery ad hoc. But by Cicero’s day [i.e. c100 BCE] there had evolved a number of fairly regular means by which one could send a letter." This included "a private system of letter carriers maintained by the publicani, whose business of collecting taxes in the provinces necessitated a reliable means of communication over long distances... a private individual could arrange for these couriers, called tabellarri, to carry personal letters along with the business correspondence of their companies."
[1]
[1]: (Nicholson 1994) |
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|
Messages were transmitted by ’runners’ or couriers: ’A brief reference to Indian runners will not be in appropriate in this connection. To convey intelligence from nation to nation, and to spread information throughout the Confederacy, as in summoning councils upon public exigencies, trained runners were employed. But three days were necessary, it is said, to convey intelligence from Buffalo to Albany. Swiftness of foot was an acquirement, among the Iroquois, which brought the individual into high repute. A trained runner would traverse a hundred miles per day. With relays, which were sometimes resorted to, the length of the day’s journey could be considerably increased. It is said that the runners of Montezuma conveyed intelligence to him of the movements of Cortes, at the rate of two hundred miles per day; but this must be regarded as extravagant. During the last war, a runner left Tonawanda at daylight in the summer season, for Avon, a distance of forty miles upon the trail. He delivered his message, and reached Tonawanda again about noon. In the night their runners were guided by the stars, from which they learned to keep their direction, and regain it, if perchance they lost their way. During the fall and winter, they determined their course by the Pleiades, or Seven Stars. This group in the neck of Taurus, they called Got-gwär[unknown] -där. In the spring and summer they ran by another group, which they named Gwe-o-gä[unknown] -ah, or the Loon, four stars at the angles of a rhombus. In preparing to carry messages they denuded themselves entirely, with the exception of the Gä-kä[unknown] -ah, or breech cloth, and a belt. They were usually sent out in pairs, and took their way through the forest, one behind the other, in perfect silence.’
[1]
’If the envoy of a foreign people desired to submit a proposition to the sachems of the League, and applied to the Senecas for that purpose, the sachems of that nation would first determine whether the question was of sufficient importance to authorize a council. If they arrived at an affirmative conclusion, they immediately sent out runners to the Cayugas, the nation nearest in position, with a belt of wampum. This belt announced that, on a certain day thereafter, at such a place, and for such and such purposes, mentioning them, a council of the League would assemble. The Cayugas then notified the Onondagas, they the Oneidas, and these the Mohawks. Each nation, within its own confines, spread the information far and wide; and thus, in a space of time astonishingly brief, intelligence of the council was heralded from one extremity of their country to the other. It produced a stir among the people in proportion to the magnitude and importance of the business to be transacted. If the subject was calculated to arouse a deep feeling of interest, one common impulse from the Hudson to the Niagara, and from the St. Lawrence to the Susquehanna, drew them towards the council-fire. Sachems, chiefs and warriors, women, and even children, deserted their hunting grounds and woodland seclusions, and taking the trail, literally flocked to the place of council. When the day arrived, a multitude had gathered together, from the most remote and toilsome distances, but yet animated by an unyielding spirit of hardihood and endurance.’
[2]
’Upon the death of a sachem the nation in which the loss had occurred had power to summon a council, and designate the day and place. If the Oneidas, for example, had lost a ruler, they sent out runners at the earliest convenient day, with “belts of invitation” to the sachems of the League, and to the people at large, to assemble around their national council-fire at Gä-no-a-lo[unknown] -häle. The invitation was circulated in the same manner, and with the same celerity as in convoking a civil council. These belts or the strings of wampum, sent out on such occasions, conveyed a laconic inessage: “the name” of the deceased “calls for a council.” It also announced the place and the time.’
[3]
We are unsure as to whether and when the practice was discontinued during the reservation period.
[1]: Morgan, Lewis Henry, and Herbert M. Lloyd. 1901. “League Of The Ho-De’-No-Sau-Nee Or Iroquois. Vol. Ii”, 105 [2]: Morgan, Lewis Henry, and Herbert M. Lloyd 1901. “League Of The Ho-De’-No-Sau-Nee Or Iroquois. Vol. I”, 104 [3]: Morgan, Lewis Henry, and Herbert M. Lloyd 1901. “League Of The Ho-De’-No-Sau-Nee Or Iroquois. Vol. I”, 110 |
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Messengers included diplomats. "The inscriptions also prove that the Himyarites employed a relatively efficient intelligence gathering organization, consisting of spies and agents that provided the commanders with timely information on enemy actions. The Himyarites were part of the international trade network and therefore it is not surprising that their diplomats could be found in Roman territory, Aksum, Ctesiphon, and in India."
[1]
[1]: (Syvanne 2015, 136) Ilkka Syvanne. 2015. Military History of Late Rome 284-361. Pen and Sword. Barnsley. |
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Messengers included diplomats. "The inscriptions also prove that the Himyarites employed a relatively efficient intelligence gathering organization, consisting of spies and agents that provided the commanders with timely information on enemy actions. The Himyarites were part of the international trade network and therefore it is not surprising that their diplomats could be found in Roman territory, Aksum, Ctesiphon, and in India."
[1]
[1]: (Syvanne 2015, 136) Ilkka Syvanne. 2015. Military History of Late Rome 284-361. Pen and Sword. Barnsley. |
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Sulayhids: Al-Mukarram remained in "close correspondence" with Abbasid caliph al-Mustansir.
[1]
Sulayhids: Ambassadors.
[2]
[1]: (Stookey 1978, 67) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder. [2]: (Stookey 1978, 74) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder. |
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Couriers (abba laga)- “In order to reach the people in the communities there were a number of heralds or couriers who assisted the district heads.”
[1]
[1]: (Lewis 2001, 90) Lewis, Herbert S. 2001. Jimma Abba Jifar, an Oromo Monarchy: Ethiopia, 1830-1932. Lawrenceville, New Jersey: The Red Sea Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/NRZVWSCD/collection |
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“Whenever a merchant wanted to dispatch his goods, he made his arrangements through the abban. Once the goods were loaded and passed to him, it was the abban who was responsible for their delivery at the place of destination.”
[1]
[1]: (Yusuf 1961, 37) Yusuf, Ahmed. 1961. ‘An Inquiry into Some Aspects of the Economy of Harar and the Records of the Household Economy of the Amirs of Harar (1825-1875)’. University College of Addis Ababa Ethnographic Bulletin. No. 5. Pp7-41. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/Q9W4JMAB/collection |
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“In the city of Sokoto there was a small bureaucracy headed by the vizier who in his own house had some scribes to receive and write short (one-page) letters in classical Arabic to those emirs he was in charge of overseeing (Last 1967:190–97). Imported paper and local ink were used, and letters from the Amir al-mu’minin had his personal stamp on them (the vizier and the emirs had no stamp of their own). The letters were never dated, but they were folded in a precise way and carried in a pouch by a messenger; it could take a week or more for a letter to reach the addressee, since fifteen miles a day was a good speed and distances were huge.”
[1]
“A reason for the decentralization was the sheer scale of the caliphate which, in nineteenth-century terms, required a journey of two months from north to south (say, from Agades to beyond llorín) and four months from west to east (from Dori in what is now Burkina Faso to eastern Adamawa, beyond Tibati and Rei Buba in Cameroon today).”
[1]
[1]: Last, Murray. “Contradictions in Creating a Jihadi Capital: Sokoto in the Nineteenth Century and Its Legacy.” African Studies Review, vol. 56, no. 2, 2013, pp. 1–20: 6. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5RUPN5VI/collection |
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"Throughout the engagement, the kabaka would have been kept informed, by means of runners of athletic renown, of developments concerning the course of the war and the spoil being accumulated. These runners or messengers were identified in 1880 as bakayungirizi by the missionary Livinhac. They were trained from an early age in prolonged, rapid marches, moving night and day with only short breaks; Mutesa had a number in his service."
[1]
[1]: (Reid 2010: 199) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/2H64W34U/collection. |
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The word ‘Carriers’ in the following quote might refer to couriers. “Harlaa was a cosmopolitan hub with merchants, carriers, consumers, craftspeople from different regions, ethnicities and traditions. These individuals serviced varied tastes and exchanged not only goods and commodities, but also knowledge and beliefs.”
[1]
[1]: (Insoll et al. 2021, 498) Insoll, Timothy et al. 2021. ‘Material Cosmopolitanism: the entrepot of Harlaa as an Islamic gateway to eastern Ethiopia’. Antiquity. Vol 95: 380. Pp 487-507. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/GGUW3WRZ/collection |
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“Before the 17th cent., royal ministers had their own king’s messengers, but private persons sent letters through servants or friends. Henry VIII, had a master of the posts in 1512 but he served only the government. The first attempt at a public system was in 1635 when a service was established to important towns, carrying letters at 2 pence per sheet per 80 miles. Under the Commonwealth, *Thurloe was appointed postmaster-general in 1657 and thearrangement was continued at the Restoration.”
[1]
Monarchs used couriers to govern their kingdoms: “That is, the king governed each country from his court in London through their respective administrations and according to their respective constitutional arrangements and law. Obviously, his Celtic kingdoms were therefore governed at a distance (via courier to the administrations in Edinburgh and Dublin) – and a disadvantage.”
[2]
[1]: (Cannon and Crowcroft 2015: 2642-2643) 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 [2]: (Bucholz et al 2013: 242) 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 |
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Messengers; envoys. “Although the Ming attempted to put restrictions on the number of Mongol envoys, and to reduce the amounts of gifts and the volume of the trade, from 1436 onward the number of Mongol messengers had, despite this, actually increased from several tens of persons to several thousand… Restrictions were also applied to the number of Mongol messengers allowed to come to Beijing, which was to be between three and five, the rest were kept in Datong.”
[1]
[1]: (Jamsran 2010: 506) Jamsran, L. 2010. “The Crisis of the Forty and the Four,” in The History of Mongolia: Volume II, Yuan and Late Medieval Period, ed. David Sneath, vol. 2, 3 vols. Kent: Global Oriental. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/D8IE2XAD |
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Messengers and official envoys were used to deliver orders and communication across Golden Horde territory using the post stations.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Halperin 1987: 26. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VCPWVNM. [2]: Khakimov and Favereau 2017: 65. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/QL8H3FN8 |
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The history of the State Courier Service of the Russian Federation (SFS Russia) dates back to December 17, 1796, when Emperor Paul I signed a Decree on the creation of a separate courier corps. The personnel of the Courier Corps (courier) ensured the delivery of the emperor’s decrees, orders, reports, securities, parcels, as well as the escort of high-ranking officials.
During the Soviet period, on the basis of the Courier Corps, the External Communications Service was formed under the Command Personnel Directorate of the All-Russian General Staff, then it was transformed several times and became subordinate to various departments (VChK - GPU - OGPU - NKVD, Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Ministry of Communications of the USSR). [1] [1]: “ABOUT THE STATE FISCAL SERVICE OF RUSSIA,” https://gfs.gov.ru/informaciya/o-gfs-rossii/. Zotero link: 8WMJSDED |
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The Yamskoy Prikaz (17th-18th centuries): The Yamskoy Prikaz was established in the 17th century as part of the Tsarist government. It organized the courier service and maintained the network of relay stations across Russia.
[1]
The history of the State Courier Service of the Russian Federation (SFS Russia) dates back to December 17, 1796, when Emperor Paul I signed a Decree on the creation of a separate courier corps. The personnel of the Courier Corps (courier) ensured the delivery of the emperor’s decrees, orders, reports, securities, parcels, as well as the escort of high-ranking officials. [2] [1]: “Story of Russian Coachmen,” The Fascinating Story of Russian Coach Drivers. Zotero link: W3R29737 [2]: “ABOUT THE STATE FISCAL SERVICE OF RUSSIA,” https://gfs.gov.ru/informaciya/o-gfs-rossii/. Zotero link: 8WMJSDED |
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The regime would have needed them, and many surrounding polities had used couriers for centuries.
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Present in the second millennium BCE but not mentioned for the Neo Elamite period.
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messengers
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Full-time professional couriers.
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Had bureaucrats. Full-time messengers would have been useful.
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Messages were transmitted by ’runners’ or couriers: ’A brief reference to Indian runners will not be in appropriate in this connection. To convey intelligence from nation to nation, and to spread information throughout the Confederacy, as in summoning councils upon public exigencies, trained runners were employed. But three days were necessary, it is said, to convey intelligence from Buffalo to Albany. Swiftness of foot was an acquirement, among the Iroquois, which brought the individual into high repute. A trained runner would traverse a hundred miles per day. With relays, which were sometimes resorted to, the length of the day’s journey could be considerably increased. It is said that the runners of Montezuma conveyed intelligence to him of the movements of Cortes, at the rate of two hundred miles per day; but this must be regarded as extravagant. During the last war, a runner left Tonawanda at daylight in the summer season, for Avon, a distance of forty miles upon the trail. He delivered his message, and reached Tonawanda again about noon. In the night their runners were guided by the stars, from which they learned to keep their direction, and regain it, if perchance they lost their way. During the fall and winter, they determined their course by the Pleiades, or Seven Stars. This group in the neck of Taurus, they called Got-gwär[unknown] -där. In the spring and summer they ran by another group, which they named Gwe-o-gä[unknown] -ah, or the Loon, four stars at the angles of a rhombus. In preparing to carry messages they denuded themselves entirely, with the exception of the Gä-kä[unknown] -ah, or breech cloth, and a belt. They were usually sent out in pairs, and took their way through the forest, one behind the other, in perfect silence.’
[1]
’If the envoy of a foreign people desired to submit a proposition to the sachems of the League, and applied to the Senecas for that purpose, the sachems of that nation would first determine whether the question was of sufficient importance to authorize a council. If they arrived at an affirmative conclusion, they immediately sent out runners to the Cayugas, the nation nearest in position, with a belt of wampum. This belt announced that, on a certain day thereafter, at such a place, and for such and such purposes, mentioning them, a council of the League would assemble. The Cayugas then notified the Onondagas, they the Oneidas, and these the Mohawks. Each nation, within its own confines, spread the information far and wide; and thus, in a space of time astonishingly brief, intelligence of the council was heralded from one extremity of their country to the other. It produced a stir among the people in proportion to the magnitude and importance of the business to be transacted. If the subject was calculated to arouse a deep feeling of interest, one common impulse from the Hudson to the Niagara, and from the St. Lawrence to the Susquehanna, drew them towards the council-fire. Sachems, chiefs and warriors, women, and even children, deserted their hunting grounds and woodland seclusions, and taking the trail, literally flocked to the place of council. When the day arrived, a multitude had gathered together, from the most remote and toilsome distances, but yet animated by an unyielding spirit of hardihood and endurance.’
[2]
’Upon the death of a sachem the nation in which the loss had occurred had power to summon a council, and designate the day and place. If the Oneidas, for example, had lost a ruler, they sent out runners at the earliest convenient day, with “belts of invitation” to the sachems of the League, and to the people at large, to assemble around their national council-fire at Gä-no-a-lo[unknown] -häle. The invitation was circulated in the same manner, and with the same celerity as in convoking a civil council. These belts or the strings of wampum, sent out on such occasions, conveyed a laconic inessage: “the name” of the deceased “calls for a council.” It also announced the place and the time.’
[3]
[1]: Morgan, Lewis Henry, and Herbert M. Lloyd. 1901. “League Of The Ho-De’-No-Sau-Nee Or Iroquois. Vol. Ii”, 105 [2]: Morgan, Lewis Henry, and Herbert M. Lloyd 1901. “League Of The Ho-De’-No-Sau-Nee Or Iroquois. Vol. I”, 104 [3]: Morgan, Lewis Henry, and Herbert M. Lloyd 1901. “League Of The Ho-De’-No-Sau-Nee Or Iroquois. Vol. I”, 110 |
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No direct evidence for messengers but may be inferred present due to the scale of the integration and hierarchy.
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Dunhuang City, Gansu: "Excavations between 1990 and 1992 exposed the site of a ’postal relay station’ (zhi), which was used from the middle of the Western Han (ca. 111 BCE) until the Cao Wei (220-65 CE) and Western Jin (265-316 CE) periods. The site included a hostel, kitchen facilities, rooms for courier personnel, and stables."
[1]
[1]: (Barbieri-Low and Yates 2015, 44) Barbieri-Low, Anthony J. Yates, Robin D.S. 2015. Law, State, and Society in Early Imperial China (2 vols): A Study with Critical Edition and Translation of the Legal Texts from Zhangjiashan Tomb, Issue 247. BRILL. |
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It is likely that the elite used messengers even over short distances for both convenience, the ability to transmit more than one message simultaneously and perhaps to enhance their status.
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It is possible that the rulers at this time used messengers even over short distances for both convenience, the ability to transmit more than one message simultaneously and perhaps to enhance their status.
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No direct evidence for messengers but may be inferred present due to the scale of the integration and hierarchy.
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This has not been mentioned in the sources consulted.
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The following quote refers to the Mauryan period, but the literature consulted does not confirm whether or not any such system existed after that empire’s fragmentation: "a communication system linking the empire with tree-lined roads, public wells, rest houses, and a mail service."
[1]
However, permanent messengers would have been useful for the government. [1]: (McClellan III and Dorn 2015, 164) McClellan III, James E. Dorn, Harold. 2015. Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction. JHU Press. |
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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.
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Not implausible, but not mentioned by sources.
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Not implausible, but not mentioned by sources.
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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.
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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.
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No information found in sources so far.
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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."
[1]
[1]: (McClellan III and Dorn 2015, 164) McClellan III, James E. Dorn, Harold. 2015. Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction. JHU Press. |
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Unclear, based on the literature consulted.
Thomas seems to suggest that long-distance communication mainly took place via a system of watchtower, possibly augmented by carrier pigeons. "[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." [1] At 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. "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)." [2] [1]: (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 [2]: (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 |
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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.
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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.
"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) [1] [1]: (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.) |
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Not mentioned by sources.
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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.
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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.
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Some existing seals refer to a courier, but whether these were full-time professionals is unclear.
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Level of urbanism and economic development (e.g. market and port) might suggest a messenger would have been necessary.
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Level of urbanism and economic development (e.g. market and port) might suggest a messenger would have been necessary.
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No direct evidence for messengers but may be inferred present due to the scale of the integration and hierarchy.
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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.
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Couriers have not been mentioned in the sources consulted.
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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.
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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.
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There are no written documents about the Wari, and it is unknown whether they had full-time messengers.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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No archaeological evidence.
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Is it reasonable to infer from the warrior society the presence of messengers?
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Not implausible, but not mentioned by sources.
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c500 CE and after: "It may be assumed that by then some of the Juan-juan already lived a settled life and practised agriculture. The original sources repeatedly mention that their khagans obtained ‘seed millet’ from China (some 10,000 shi each time). This shows that the Juan-juan society and state had gradually developed from nomadic herding to a settled agricultural way of life, from yurts to the building of houses and monumental architecture, from the nomadic district to towns. They had invented their own system of writing and developed their own local culture and Buddhist learning flourished."
[1]
[1]: (Kyzlasov 1996, 317) |
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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.
"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 great 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." [1] [1]: (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 |
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There has been no information on a postal system in the sources consulted.
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