A lesson about Post Offices

A lesson about Post Offices, and the history behind them.

by Abdus Sameh Class 7D

​What is a Post Office?

​A post office is a public faculty that provides a service based around mails, such as accepted and giving away letters and parcels, selling postage stamps, packaging, stationary, etc. Post offices can even offer additional services, which vary country to country, like accepting government forms such as passport applications, or processing government fees like road taxes, bank fees, etc.

​Origins of post offices

​The term "post office" has been used since the 1650's, shortly right after the legalization of private mail services in England during 1935. In early modern England, post riders, and mounted couriers (new words, I know.) were placed, every couple of hours along roads known as post roads at posting houses, or post houses for short, between major cities. or towns known as "post towns".

​Places like these permitted some very important correspondance to travel without any kind of delay. In the early America, or USA because it's USA, post offices were known as stations. These terms fell from use after horses and those old-timey services were replaced with railways, aircrafts, and automobiles.

​Origins of post offices part 2

. Today, the term "post office" usually refers to government postal facilities providing customer service. "General Post Office" is sometimes used for the national headquarters of a postal service, even if the building does not provide customer service. A postal facility that is used exclusively for processing mail is instead known as a sorting office or delivery office, which may have a large central area known as a sorting or postal hall. Integrated facilities combining mail processing with railway stations or airports are known as mail exchanges.

​Historical evidence of earlier post office establishments (final chapter thank god.)

​. There is evidence of corps of royal couriers disseminating the decrees of Egyptian pharaohs as early as 2400 BCE, and it is possible that the service greatly precedes that date. Similarly, there may be ancient organised systems of post houses providing mounted courier service, although sources vary as to precisely who initiated the practice.

​. In the Persian Empire, a Chapar Khaneh system existed along the Royal Road. Similar postage systems were established in India and China by the Mauryan and Han dynasties in the 2nd century BCE.

​Historical evidence of earlier post office establishments part 2

​The Roman historian Suetonius credited Augustus with regularising the Roman transportation and courier network, the Cursus Publicus. Local officials were obliged to provide couriers who would be responsible for their message's entire course. Locally maintained post houses (Latin: stationes) privately owned rest houses (Latin: mansiones) and were obliged or honored to care for couriers along their way. The Roman emperor Diocletian later established two parallel systems: one providing fresh horses or mules for urgent correspondence and the other providing sturdy oxen for bulk shipments. The Byzantine historian Procopius, though not unbiased, records the Cursus Publicus system remained largely intact until it was dismantled in the Byzantine empire by the emperor Justinian in the 6th century.

​Historical evidence of earlier post office establishments part 3.

​. The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis family initiated regular mail service from Brussels in the 16th century, directing the Imperial Post of the Holy Roman Empire. The British Postal Museum claims that the oldest functioning post office in the world is on High Street in Sanquhar, Scotland. The post office has functioned continuously since 1712, during which horses and stagecoaches were used to carry mail.

. In parts of Europe, special postal censorship offices existed to intercept and censor mail. In France, such offices were known as cabinets noirs.

AND THAT IS IT FOR OUR LESSON, NOW IT'S TIME FOR YOUR QUIZ!​

Multiple Choice

QUIZ TIME! Did you even learn anything? Let's see... ;)

What family initiated regular mail service Brussels in the 16th century, directing the Imperial Post of the Holy Roman Empire?

• Jesus Christ

• The Royal English Family

• The Princely House of Thum and Taxis

• The Royal Massimos Court of Rome

Poll

The term "post offices" were used since the:

• 1780's

• 1650's

• 1920's

• 1650's

Multiple Choice

Post Offices were also known as "stations" in:

• USA

• England

• Ireland

• France

Multiple Choice

What are stagecoaches? (Easiest question.)

• Sports coaches except they dance in stages.

• Carts carried by horses that transport people in a fancy small room thing with a door.

Multiple Choice

The Roman historian Suetonius credited Augustus with regularizing the Roman transportation and courier network, the...

• Blessus Privatus

• Curses Publicus

• Cursus Publicus

• Blessus Publices

Multiple Choice

There is evidence of corps of royal couriers disseminating the decrees of ______ pharaohs as early as 2400 BCE, and it is possible that the service greatly precedes that date.

• English

• Roman

• Indian

• Egyptian

Multiple Choice

The Roman emperor ______ later established two parallel systems: one providing fresh horses or mules for urgent correspondence and the other providing sturdy oxen for bulk shipments.

• Augustus

• Diocletian

• Claudius

• Tiberius