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The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal systems have generally been established as a government monopoly, with a fee on the article prepaid. Proof of payment is usually in the form of an adhesive postage stamp, but a postage meter is also used for bulk mailing.
Postal authorities often have functions aside from transporting letters. In some countries, a postal, telegraph and telephone (PTT) service oversees the postal system, in addition to telephone and telegraph systems. Some countries' postal systems allow for savings accounts and handle applications for passports.
The Universal Postal Union (UPU), established in 1874, includes 192 member countries and sets the rules for international mail exchanges as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations.
The word mail comes from the Middle English word male, referring to a travelling bag or pack. It was spelled in that manner until the 17th century and is distinct from the word male. The French have a similar word, malle, for a trunk or large box, and mála is the Irish term for a bag. In the 17th century, the word mail began to appear as a reference for a bag that contained letters: "bag full of letter" (1654). Over the next hundred years the word mail began to be applied strictly to the letters themselves and the sack as the mailbag. In the 19th century, the British typically used mail to refer to letters being sent abroad (i.e. on a ship) and post to refer to letters for domestic delivery. The word Post is derived from Old French poste, which ultimately stems from the past participle of the Latin verb ponere 'to lay down or place'. So in the U.K., the Royal Mail delivers the post, while in North America both the U.S. Postal Service and Canada Post deliver the mail.
The term email, short for "electronic mail", first appeared in the 1970s. The term snail mail is a retronym to distinguish it from the quicker email. Various dates have been given for its first use.
The practice of communication by written documents carried by an intermediary from one person or place to another almost certainly dates back nearly to the invention of writing. However, the development of formal postal systems occurred much later. The first documented use of an organized courier service for the dissemination of written documents is in Egypt, where Pharaohs used couriers to send out decrees throughout the territory of the state (2400 BCE). The earliest surviving piece of mail is also Egyptian, dating to 255 BCE.
The first credible claim for the development of a real postal system comes from the Achaemenid Empire. The best-documented claim, by the Greek historian Xenophon, attributes the invention to the Persian king Cyrus the Great (550 BCE), who mandated that every province in his kingdom would organize reception and delivery of post to each of its citizens. Other writers credit his successor Darius the Great (521 BCE), who reorganized and rebuilt the Royal Road to facilitate the rapid travel of Persian couriers from Susa (now Iran) in the east to Sardis (now Turkey) in the west. Other sources claim much earlier dates for a postal system under the Assyrians, with credit given to Hammurabi (1700 BCE) and Sargon II (722 BCE). Mail may not have been the primary mission of this postal service, however. The role of the system as an intelligence-gathering apparatus is well documented, and the service was (later) called angariae, a term that in time came to indicate a tax system. The Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible makes mention of this system: Persian king Ahasuerus used couriers to relay his decisions across the Near East.
The Persian system worked using stations called Chapar Khaneh (Persian: چاپارخانه), whence the message carrier (the Chapar) would ride to the next post, whereupon he would swap his horse with a fresh one for maximum performance and delivery speed. The Greek historian Herodotus described the system in this way: "It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day's journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed". The verse prominently features on James Farley Post Office in New York City, although it uses the translation "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds". The ancient Persian postal service system greatly influenced the Greco-Roman world such that its model was adapted by the Roman Empire as the cursus publicus.
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The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal systems have generally been established as a government monopoly, with a fee on the article prepaid. Proof of payment is usually in the form of an adhesive postage stamp, but a postage meter is also used for bulk mailing.
Postal authorities often have functions aside from transporting letters. In some countries, a postal, telegraph and telephone (PTT) service oversees the postal system, in addition to telephone and telegraph systems. Some countries' postal systems allow for savings accounts and handle applications for passports.
The Universal Postal Union (UPU), established in 1874, includes 192 member countries and sets the rules for international mail exchanges as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations.
The word mail comes from the Middle English word male, referring to a travelling bag or pack. It was spelled in that manner until the 17th century and is distinct from the word male. The French have a similar word, malle, for a trunk or large box, and mála is the Irish term for a bag. In the 17th century, the word mail began to appear as a reference for a bag that contained letters: "bag full of letter" (1654). Over the next hundred years the word mail began to be applied strictly to the letters themselves and the sack as the mailbag. In the 19th century, the British typically used mail to refer to letters being sent abroad (i.e. on a ship) and post to refer to letters for domestic delivery. The word Post is derived from Old French poste, which ultimately stems from the past participle of the Latin verb ponere 'to lay down or place'. So in the U.K., the Royal Mail delivers the post, while in North America both the U.S. Postal Service and Canada Post deliver the mail.
The term email, short for "electronic mail", first appeared in the 1970s. The term snail mail is a retronym to distinguish it from the quicker email. Various dates have been given for its first use.
The practice of communication by written documents carried by an intermediary from one person or place to another almost certainly dates back nearly to the invention of writing. However, the development of formal postal systems occurred much later. The first documented use of an organized courier service for the dissemination of written documents is in Egypt, where Pharaohs used couriers to send out decrees throughout the territory of the state (2400 BCE). The earliest surviving piece of mail is also Egyptian, dating to 255 BCE.
The first credible claim for the development of a real postal system comes from the Achaemenid Empire. The best-documented claim, by the Greek historian Xenophon, attributes the invention to the Persian king Cyrus the Great (550 BCE), who mandated that every province in his kingdom would organize reception and delivery of post to each of its citizens. Other writers credit his successor Darius the Great (521 BCE), who reorganized and rebuilt the Royal Road to facilitate the rapid travel of Persian couriers from Susa (now Iran) in the east to Sardis (now Turkey) in the west. Other sources claim much earlier dates for a postal system under the Assyrians, with credit given to Hammurabi (1700 BCE) and Sargon II (722 BCE). Mail may not have been the primary mission of this postal service, however. The role of the system as an intelligence-gathering apparatus is well documented, and the service was (later) called angariae, a term that in time came to indicate a tax system. The Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible makes mention of this system: Persian king Ahasuerus used couriers to relay his decisions across the Near East.
The Persian system worked using stations called Chapar Khaneh (Persian: چاپارخانه), whence the message carrier (the Chapar) would ride to the next post, whereupon he would swap his horse with a fresh one for maximum performance and delivery speed. The Greek historian Herodotus described the system in this way: "It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day's journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed". The verse prominently features on James Farley Post Office in New York City, although it uses the translation "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds". The ancient Persian postal service system greatly influenced the Greco-Roman world such that its model was adapted by the Roman Empire as the cursus publicus.