L’étonnante histoire du courrier postal !

• Discovery of writing to enable message creation • Strong centralized power to organize infrastructure • Safety measures to protect mail during transport

Evidence of a postal system called 'the royal mail' exists from a love poem during the New Empire era (1580-1077 BC), where messengers traveled in chariots from relay to relay, switching horses.

• Persian Empire under Cyrus implemented relay posts • Mamluk Sultan Baybars created impressive networks combining horse relays, signal fires, and carrier pigeons

The cursus publicus under Augustus reached its peak with light two-wheeled chariots for dispatches and heavier four-wheeled chariots for supplies, supported by mutatio stations every 10-18km and mansio stations every 30-36km.

• Messengers traveled approximately 75km per day • Nearly 372 routes spread across 85,000km by the end of the 3rd century • Reserved exclusively for the Roman State

Individuals exchanged mail through slaves, traveling merchants, or tabellarii messenger services, which often lacked discretion.

The cursus publicus disappeared with the Western Roman Empire's dislocation in the 5th century as local populations were relieved of maintenance burdens.

The cursus publicus survived in the Eastern Roman Empire, also called the Byzantine Empire, while Western Europe entered an era of messengers.

No organized postal service existed in Western Europe at the start of the Middle Ages, though the Church and its clerks exchanged many letters.

• Around 1475, Louis XI created a postal system with royal horsemen positioned along roads to monitor enemy troop movements • This organization was light and easily transferable between roads, eventually becoming permanent

The postal service initially served only the king and his administration, though royal messengers sometimes delivered private letters along their routes.

Henri IV made the postal service accessible to individuals for the first time by requiring payment of a tax, with the recipient bearing the cost rather than the sender.

After 1630, France was divided into 20 districts, each overseen by a post master who bought their office from the king and organized transport, receiving, and distributing mail.

Post masters quickly became wealthy through their activities, leading Louis XIV's minister Louvois to implement the 'general farm' system in 1672 to restore state monopoly.

• Relays spaced every 13-30km (approximately 7 leagues, origin of 'Seven Leagues Boots') • The 'Courrier' transported mail in a wheeled cart called 'a wheelbarrow' or later the larger 'mail-trunk' from 1793 • Service operated day and night without stopping until destination reached

Postilions rode horses from relay to relay at a gallop, switching horses at each station. From 1786 they wore distinctive uniforms and 3kg boots designed to protect legs if their horse fell.

• Compensated per service rendered • Earned bad reputation for being insolent, undisciplined, alcoholics, and sometimes cruel to horses • From 1822, required to carry booklets of identity and conduct for better control

• Supplied fresh horses to couriers and officials • Rented horses to travelers wishing to 'run the post' (travel at gallop) • Offices were bought positions typically passed from father to son

Post masters held exclusive right to use galloping horses on roads. Others were limited to walking or trotting speeds and forced to stop at night.

• Could sell food and wine to couriers and postilions • Exempt from public services like guard duty • Completely exempt from taxes, particularly beneficial as most were major landowners • Often served as village mayors in rural areas

• All post master privileges were abolished during the Revolution • Yearly compensation was provided to prevent postal system disruption • Jean-Baptiste Drouet, a post master, recognized Louis XVI in Varennes and permitted his arrest

• Postal service declared an 'essential need' accessible to all citizens • Postal network was densified to serve broader population • Confidentiality of correspondence was reaffirmed after previous violations

The 'black cabinet' intelligence service, existing since 1623, spied on mail of suspicious ambassadors and nobles. Voltaire denounced this in his 1771 'Question on the Encyclopedia'.

• Foot-based postal ways connected cities with horse relay services to smaller cities • The 'small post' service, created before 1758, delivered letters within the same city using private postmen with clappers • First established in Paris, then expanded to other major cities

The 1830 creation of rural post service was a world first. Until then, country people constituting the vast majority of the French population had to collect mail from the closest office, with only 1,775 offices serving 36,000 communes.

• 5,000 rural postmen were recruited, especially from former Napoleonic Empire soldiers • Compensated by kilometer walked on rounds averaging 28-40km per day on foot • Compensation was insufficient, requiring additional jobs as shoemakers or watch-repairers

After the 1848 Revolution, the British invention of the postal stamp was adopted. The sender now paid a fixed price 20 cents lower than before, with recipients receiving mail free of charge.

• Reform caused considerable rise in mail volume exchanged • First stamp collections appeared as early as the 1850s • Collectors quickly began their work, creating the hobby of philately

• As early as 1839, dispatches were carried on tracks between Montpellier and Sète • In the 1840s, mail transport by railroad developed to save time • Initially complemented horse posting rather than replacing it

From 1845, special wagons allowed mail sorting during transport, though conditions were extremely hard with agents working standing in narrow spaces for 14-15 hours continuously with only coal stove heating.

• Last horse postal lines were closed by ministry order in 1873 • Progressive train modernization made horse service completely obsolete • Work conditions in traveling offices gradually improved with modernization

Late 19th century saw democratization of bicycles for postmen, who received compensation to purchase and maintain them. This transportation became largely associated with the modern postman figure.

In September 1870, Prussian troops besieged Paris, cutting off all contact with the rest of the country and creating severe food shortages and communication problems.

• People were sent off in balloons to attempt communication • Sometimes successful, like Gambetta traveling to gather a rescue army • Sometimes ended up in enemy territory or as far as Norway

• Over 300 pigeons were brought out of Paris by balloon carrying small tubes with 20,000-30,000 microphotographed dispatches • Prussians hunted the birds with rifles and trained falcons • Only 57 pigeons reached their destination; one heroic bird was stuffed after the war

• Post-runners attempted to cross Prussian lines; more than 200 runs made but only a dozen succeeded • Moulins balls: waterproof zinc boxes of mail immersed in the Seine for current delivery, but none of 55 sent during winter siege were recovered due to frozen river

• First postal cars began replacing horses in 1909, especially in Paris • After WWI, road transport became complement to railroad • Since 1952, cars used for rural postmen's lengthy rounds • Postal yellow color only adopted in the 1960s

• Road transportation gradually replaced railroad connections starting in the 1920s • By 1970s, road transport accounted for half of postal traffic • TGV arrival in the 1980s created postal TGV for faster mail transport • Postal TGV service stopped in 2015 as road transport surpassed rail

• First aeropostal experiment occurred at end of WWI between Montpellier and Sète • First aeropostal Atlantic line opened in 1936 between France and Argentina via Senegal • Pilots were true adventurers flying by night with significant risks

• Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of 'The Small Prince', was the most famous aeropostal pilot • He published 'Night Flight' in 1931, a novel about aeropostal pilots • Air Bleu company began regular mail transport from 1935 • Today, planes reserved for urgent long-distance mail only

• First triage automatization tests occurred in the 1950s • Generalized from the 1970s onwards • Allowed postal service to handle massive mail volumes in record time

• Internet introduced major challenge from late 1990s onwards • Messages can be exchanged instantaneously across the world • Between 2008 and 2020, distributed letters divided by two

Internet also represents opportunity as increased online shopping creates demand for package deliveries, a new revenue stream for postal service.

• Postal service lost its monopoly to private companies • As second biggest employer in France with 250,000 employees after the State, it remains considerable enterprise • Must continue innovating to face new challenges