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1. IntroductionThe establishment of the mail has a particular prominence among the accomplishments in early modern communication. From the 16th century until well into the 19th, the mail was crucial to the infrastructure of all land transportation, and thus for the transportation and conveyance of letters and news, monies, goods, and passengers (Land transport; Passenger transportation). Founded by the future Emperor Maximilian I for the purpose of conveying government dispatches, the mail soon d…

1. Definition and origins 1.1. Development in the Middle AgesIn antiquity and the Middle Ages, messenger services transmitted news using messengers on foot or on horseback (rarely in a horse-drawn vehicle). From the late Middle Ages, they took on an increasingly organized form. Like the institution of the mail, which it predates (though it did not directly supersede it), the messenger system forms part of the history of communication. The occupation of messenger emerged in the course of the late Middle A…

1. Early modern eraThe robber bands in the era of the stagecoach took their first form in the Middle Ages as robber barons and marauding bands of soldiers. At this point, travel no longer connoted “departure for war” but carried the implication of roving and plundering “cohorts of knights” (Soldier). The arsonist bands of the 16th century were responsible for the first high point in the history of brigandage. For a token fee, out-of-work mercenaries (Landsknecht) ransacked farms and entire villages…

1. OverviewBy a signal we mean a specific sign, normally generated mechanically, whose meaning is based on a previously adopted agreement. The word was borrowed in the 14th century from Old French  signal (from Latin  signum, “sign”). Signals have been in use since antiquity, but usually limited to rudimentary content. An agreed signal could warn of the incursion of a foreign army or report a victory. Visual transmission of a message at night employed light and fire, and a column of smoke in the daytime; besides the human voi…

Early modern discussions of telecommunications freed from all constraints of land transportation (Land transport), interest was long focused on systems for optical telegraphy. Introduced across France in the late 18th century, the semaphore line first conveyed an idea of the possibilities of high-speed information transfer. The  Elektrolyt-Telegraph built by Samuel Thomas von Soemmering in 1809 at Munich, on the other hand, was still impracticable, consisting as it did of many individual lines, corresponding to letters of the alphabet…

1. Introduction The sense of a lack of time in the early modern period arose from the loss of a rhythm of human life that had been rooted in natural cycles. In its place, a linear measure of time determined by clocks took hold. In the words of Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, “My life ticks by, / hour by hour I hasten towards the grave” (“Meine lebenszeit verstreicht, / stündlich eil ich zu dem grabe”) [1. 459]. The transience of life was symbolized by the hourglass, which directly displayed the irretrievable passing of the observer’s time. The hourglass, in the for…

From the late Middle Ages onwards, traffic regulations were introduced to control shipping, but especially land transport. The Hamburg navigation law of 1270 established binding principles of liability in cases of collision, while traffic ordinances introduced by government authorities treated aspects of road and street use and gave recommendations regarding overtaking, priority in traffic, and speed. A “simple road traffic ordinance” [6. 1241] was already contained in the Sachsenspiegel (Saxony, circa 1220) and a similar one in the  Schwabenspiegel (Swabia, 1275)…

1. Introduction The aspect of encrypted communication that was most relevant in the early modern period was cryptography. For centuries, confidential letters and dispatches were written in secret scripts that denied third parties access to their content. Encryption was first done using numerals, then quickly with ordinary letters and invented symbols. Competent cryptoanalysts were increasingly sought-after in absolutist territories and states, and became figures of high renown at courts…

1. ConceptThe word “telecommunications” was adopted in the early 20th century as a general term for various forms of information transmission (News). A 1904 treatise by the Frenchman Édouard Estaunié ( Traité pratique de télécommunication électrique, “Practical Treatise of Electrical Telecommunication”) used it to encompass developments in both telegraphy and telephony [8. 965]. The influence of innovations in information technology in the 20th century shifted the meaning of the noun “communication” (Latin  communicatio, French  communication, German Kommunikation…

The semaphore was a mechanical contrivance in the late 18th and 19th centuries that served to transmit messages within visual range (Optical telegraphy). It usually consisted of a mast with movable (transverse) arms, controlled by levers and cables, whose positions represented a character set. Aided by the use of telescopes, the positioning of the semaphores as a chain of relay stations – preferably on heights – made it possible to cover substantial distances in almost no timeThe techniques of signaling practiced since antiquity (smoke, light, fire) were limited to rud…

In Germany in the early 19th century, the term Eilwagen (literally “rapid carriage”) denoted a specific organizational form in scheduled postal passenger transportation. Its basis was the principle of optimized conveyance at the greatest possible speed. This acceleration, which was achieved through organizational measures alone, long attracted no attention from scholars, who were preoccupied with the accomplishments of railroad-related industrialization. Yet the fact that horse power can only be accelera…

1. Concept and researchThe word “tourism,” derived from “tour” and “tourist” (French  tour, tourisme), has since the 1950s denoted all manifestations of a broad, leisure-related mobility, and represents “travel as an industry” [1. 321]. The stem of the word, “tour-,” has had the sense of a turned circle, originally in dance, since the 17th century. The Grand Tour in the European Age of Enlightenment was a tour undertaken for personal edification. In his 1785 letters from Switzerland, the Göttingen history professor Christoph…

1. Origins Optical telegraphy refers to techniques of transmitting messages across distances by visual means ( News). Its history runs from forms of simple signaling (e.g. beacons) to large-scale, systematic networks of mechanical telegraph apparatuses. The invention of the telescope in the 17th century inspired the first discussions of long-distance communication. In a 1616 treatise, Franz Kessler proposed using a telescope to read code numbers off a “number plate” (“Ziffer Täffelein”) at a distance [1. 97–99]. In the 1680s, the English physicist Robert Hooke wa…

Alpine passes are the connections between Western, Central, and Eastern Europe and Italy. As well as the fluctuating roll call of around 100 passes of primarily regional and local significance, there were at the dawn of the early modern period around two dozen major Alpine passes. These included (from west to east): the Mont Genève, the Mont Cenis, the Great St. Bernhard, and the St. Gotthard; the chief passes of the Grisons: Septimer, Splügen, St. Bernardino, and Lukmanier; finally, the Reschen…

1. Introduction The subject matter of guidebooks overlaps with that of the route manual, the itinerary, and the city guide. However, whereas earlier forms of route description were just that and no more, guidebooks focused on describing the places visited en route, and the sights to be seen there. Town guides, combined with itineraries, developed into practical travel aids from the late 16th century.Klaus Beyrer 2. 17th and 18th centuries One of the first German authors of works combining route description with city description was the Ulm teacher Martin Zeille…

A road is a link connecting two places: a stretch that a traveler or pedestrian “covers to reach a goal” [1. 2852]. Roads and streets make the human environment accessible, while they structure it and convey an impression of its dimensions. They are the arteries of human communication. Early modern roads can be classified according to their origin (Roman roads,  Hellwege [broad highways]), nature (defiles, mountain passes), construction (corduroy roads, paved roads [Chaussee]), and use (post road, pilgrimage route, farm lane, church street, mill stree…

Among the means of traffic and transport, water routes were preferred to land routes until well into the early modern period. To the extent that waterways and canals were available, this was true of both freight and passenger transport. Inland navigation counted both speed and comfort among its features, but also the dependability of the entire journey. At the beginning of the early modern period, for the time being comparable conditions were not present on land (Land transport). If they did not…

1. IntroductionExperienced travelers considered a range of useful items and comforts as essentials to be taken on their Grand Tour (Bildungsreise). Instruments, maps, and handbooks aided orientation en route. Descriptive travelogues were particularly popular as aids to preparation for travel (Travel literature; Guidebook). Travel guides (Apodemica) and itineraries had their heyday in the 16th century.The first to benefit from such travel aids were pilgrims and merchants. Noble and wealthy middle-class Grand Tourists and scholars also became targ…

1. 16th-17th centuries Maps developed in close correspondence with the history of travel. People on pilgrimages, emissaries (Diplomacy), nobles on the Grand Tour, and later citizens educating themselves on a  Bildungsreise appreciated early modern maps as sources of information and aids to orientation. The stimulus to the production of the first map in Germany was the 1500 Catholic Jubilee. The unsigned, undated map of the route to Rome is attributed to the Nuremberg compass maker Erhard Etzlaub ( Das ist der Rom Weg von meylen zu meylen mit puncten verzeychnet von e…

1. Introduction Railway stations began to be built along tracks and at their termini to accompany the introduction of steam railways for passenger transportation (1830 in Britain, 1835 in Germany). In the first years, simple wooden buildings sufficed to fulfill their main purpose, the processing of passengers. However, stations soon developed into prestigious reception buildings at the heart of urban public life and communication. They offered a shining example of order and discipline, and communicated a precise concept of modern, industrial timekeeping (Chronometry).Klaus …