The History of Mail — How Letters Connected the World

Before telephones and the internet, the world ran on letters — carried on foot, on horseback, by ship and by plane across deserts and oceans. This documentary follows the letter's five-thousand-year journey: from the pharaohs' couriers and Cyrus of Persia's mounted relay stations, through Rome's cursus publicus and Genghis Khan's Yam network of fresh horses and passport tablets, to the Thurn und Taxis family that ran Europe's post for more than three centuries. Watch William Dockwra's London Penny Post bring cheap delivery to ordinary streets in 1680, and Rowland Hill's Penny Black stamp of 1840 make letters affordable for everyone. Ride with the Pony Express as it crosses America in ten days — and dies within eighteen months when the telegraph arrives — then see railways, steamships and the Universal Postal Union of 1874 turn international mail into one single global system. Finally, fly with the first official airmail from Allahabad in 1911, march through the soldiers' letters and V-mail of the Second World War into the age of postcodes and ZIP codes, and discover why, even after email, the letter refuses to die — because the internet that killed it now fills the delivery vans with parcels. 00:00 Welcome to History Lens 00:05 The First Messengers — Pharaohs and Persia 01:09 Rome's Cursus Publicus 01:59 The Mongol Yam — Genghis Khan's Relay 02:49 Thurn und Taxis — Europe's Postal Family 03:36 London's Penny Post — William Dockwra 04:25 Rowland Hill and the Penny Black 05:15 The Pony Express 06:03 Steam, Railways and the Universal Postal Union 06:51 Airmail — The Letter Takes to the Sky 07:41 War, V-Mail and the ZIP Code Age 08:29 The Letter Refuses to Die #history #mail #documentary #historyofmail Subscribe to History Lens for more fascinating documentaries about the hidden histories behind everyday things!