Seshat

Section: Social Complexity / Social Scale

Variable: Fastest Individual Communication (All coded records)

This is the fastest time (in days) an individual can travel from the capital city to the most outlying provincial capital (if one exists), usually keeping within the boundaries of the polity. This might be by ship, horse, horse relay, or on foot, or a combination.

Fastest Individual Communication

#	Polity	Coded Value	Tags	Year(s)
1	Russian Empire, Romanov Dynasty II	[30 to 40]	Confident Expert	1776 CE 1853 CE
Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok Horse Relay System (up to 1853): Before the widespread adoption of the telegraph and the railway, the fastest method was the horse relay system. A message from Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok via horse relay would have taken several weeks, possibly more than a month, considering the vast distance (approximately 9,000 kilometers) and the challenges of the terrain and weather.^[1] Telegraph Lines (from 1853): The introduction of the telegraph significantly reduced communication time. The first telegraph line in Russia was established in 1853.^[2] By the late 19th century, a telegraph message from Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok could be transmitted in a matter of hours. [1]: Simon Franklin and Katherine Bowers, eds., Information and Empire: Mechanisms of Communication in Russia, 1600-1850 (Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2017). Zotero link: Z6FKYETN [2]: Oleg Valentinovich Makhrovskiy, “180 Years of Telecommunication in Russia,” in 2012 Third IEEE HISTory of ELectro-Technology CONference (HIS℡CON). Zotero link: 84JP29EH
2	Russian Empire, Romanov Dynasty II	0	Confident Expert	1853 CE 1917 CE
-
3	Austria - Habsburg Dynasty II	0	Confident	1867 CE 1918 CE
During this period postal, telegraph and telephone services were available which made some communication almost instant.^[1] “By 1911, the Austrian state employed over fifteen thousand women, most of them in the postal, telegraph, and telephone services…”^[2] [1]: (Judson 2016: 336-337, 393) Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, USA; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BN5TQZBW [2]: (Judson 2016: 337) Judson, Pieter M. 2016. The Habsburg Empire: A New History. Cambridge, USA; London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BN5TQZBW
4	Soviet Union	0	Confident Expert	1923 CE 1991 CE
WHEN KARL MARX DIED in March 1883 there were already 1000 telephone subscribers in Russia. The telephone had come to Russia a mere six years after its invention, and only a year after the first urban telephone exchanges were opened on the European continent. On the eve of the Bolshevik seizure of power there was roughly one telephone for every 200 city-dwellers in Russia, compared to about one for every 50 Britons (and one for every 10 Americans).^[1] [1]: Solnick, Steven L. “Revolution, Reform and the Soviet Telephone System, 1917-1927.” Soviet Studies 43, no. 1 (1991): 157–175. Accessed November 28, 2023. https://www.jstor.org/stable/152488. Zotero link: 7KFS88HE
5	Khwarezmid Empire	-	Suspected	-
This has not been mentioned in the sources consulted.
6	Hohokam Culture	-	Suspected	-
-
7	Tudor and Early Stuart England	-	Suspected	-
There is no direct mention of the fastest communication in the sources consulted, however it would have been by ship along the internal waterways or along the coast, or via horse relay.
8	Anglo-Saxon England II	-	Suspected	-
There has been no information on a definitive estimate for the fastest individual communication. However, this would have been via horse, likely with a relay for important royal communication.
9	Austria - Habsburg Dynasty I	-	Suspected	-
The fastest communication during this period would have likely been horse relay via land.
10	Saffarid Caliphate	-	Suspected	-
Likely by horse relay but this has not been confirmed in the sources.
11	British Empire I	113	Confident	-
days. In 1825 a steam assisted ship sailing from Falmouth to Calcutta (British Indian capital) took 113 days to make the one-way journey.^[1] [1]: (Porter 1999: 255) Porter, Andrew, ed. 1999. The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Nineteenth Century, vol. 3, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GTF9V4CG
12	Napoleonic France	0	Confident	-
By 1860 the telegraph system made communication across France almost instant. ^[1] [1]: Clapham 1955: 158. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2QKQJQM3.
13	Axum II	8	Confident	-
-
14	Axum III	8	Confident	-
-
15	Monte Alban V Early Postclassic	-	Undecided	-
-
16	Monte Alban V Late Postclassic	-	Undecided	-
-
17	Plantagenet England	-	Suspected	-
Horse relay or coastal ships would have been used as the fastest form of communication, but it is uncertain how long exactly they may have taken.
18	Tuyuhun	-	Undecided	-
-
19	Lombard Kingdom	-	Suspected	-
This has not been mentioned in the sources consulted.
20	Us Reconstruction-Progressive	[0 to 1]	Confident	-
In 1844 the Telegraph was invented, and as increasingly efficient and sophisticated methods of technology were created, over 23 thousand miles of telegraphs wires were hooked up across the US, allowing news to reach one end of the territory from another in the same day. Later forms of telegraph and the telephone led to instant communication.^[1] [1]: Volo and Volo 2004: xv, 51. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SIB5XSW97.
21	Antebellum US	1	Confident	-
In 1811 the first steamboat was able to travel on the Mississippi River. However, in 1844 the Telegraph was invented, and as increasingly efficient and sophisticated methods of technology were created, over 23 thousand miles of telegraphs wires were hooked up across the US, allowing news to reach one end of the territory from another in the same day.^[1] [1]: Volo and Volo 2004: xv, 51. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SIB5XSW97.