Milestones in Communication
Milestones in CommunicationMilestones in Communications
The capabilities of modern communications would utterly astound our ancestors. Did you ever stop to think that it took five months for Queen Isabella to hear of Columbus' discovery, or that it took two weeks for Europe to learn of Lincoln's assassination?
We take for granted immediate news of everything that is going on in the world, but it was not always so. Modern technology and future predictions are easier to comprehend when we view them in terms of our past. What follows next is a list of what we consider some of the more significant events in the annals of communication. Our list is arbitrary and includes items chosen not only for technological innovation, but for creativity and human interest as well.
The Battle of Marathon � Pheidippides' Run
For centuries, the speed of communication was, in essence, the speed of transportation. Perhaps no event so dramatizes this limitation as Pheidippides' run following the battle of Marathon in 490 BC.
As told in the history books, a badly outnumbered Greek force defeated an invading Persian army on the plains of Marathon, 20 miles from Athens. Fearing that the defeated Persians would regroup and attack Athens and that the city would surrender without knowing of the victory, the Greek general dispatched his swiftest runner, Pheidippides. As he reached the city, Pheidippides stumbled, delivered his message, and fell dead of exhaustion.
Paul Revere�s Ride
"One if by land and two if by sea" refers to lanterns hung from the North Church in Boston in 1775 to indicate the route the British were taking. The lanterns were the signal for Paul Revere to begin his famous midnight ride, perhaps the most famous communication in American history, immortalized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem.
In actuality, Revere made two rides, on April 16 (to warn the patriots to move their military supplies) and again on April 18 (to tell the people to take up arms.) Few people know that Revere was accompanied on the second ride by two other patriots, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, and that he was captured by a British patrol and subsequently released. Dawes and Prescott escaped.
Reuters News Service
Reuters today is a worldwide newsgathering agency, owned by the British Press Association. It was founded in 1849 by Paul Julius Von Reuter, and the creativity of its founder merits Reuters' inclusion in our list of communication milestones. The original service used carrier pigeons to bring closing market prices from the stock exchange in Brussels, Belgium, to Aix-la-Chapelle (now Aachen), Germany.
The Pony Express
Would you spend $5 to send a half-ounce letter that will take 10 days to get to California? That was the rate charged by the Pony Express, which in its day provided the fastest possible delivery to the West Coast.
The route of the Pony Express stretched 1966 miles from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California. Relay stations were set up every 10 to...
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