Early Communication

Samuel Morse and the Telegraph: Connecting the World

Amol Budhiraja | National History Day 2021

Early Long Distance Communication - Before the Telegraph

Pigeon Post (5th Century) – Persian Emperor Cyrus the Great established the first postal system in the world to communicate with the different of Persia. This system was later used in Rome, China, and Egypt, and even used today!

Snail Mail (6th Century) – Persia and Syria both pioneered the usage of pigeons to facilitate communication due to their keen directional senses. Later used by the Romans, and Egyptians.

Maritime Flag Semaphore (15th Century) – Enabled for ship communication using the flag semaphore code. This code involves the positioning of two flags to represent numbers or letters.

Smoke Signals – Persian Emperor Cyrus the Great established the first postal system in the world to communicate with the different of Persia. This system was later used in Rome, China, and Egypt, and even used today!


One day, while at work, Samuel Morse had received a message that his wife was ill. However, as the message was sent by a slow communication medium, he reached his wife when it was too late. Devastated, he dedicated his life to improve long distance communication, and later developed the Telegraph. Source: History.com and Curiosity.com. 

Limitations of Previous Mediums of Communication

Weather Dependent - Affected by bad weather.

Prolonged  - Took a long time.

Labor Intensive – These methods took a lot of people to facilitate.

Expensive – Required a lot of resources.