1801
National Library of France
Paris, France
Napoleon I promoted the use of telegraph in the territories he conquered. In his military campaigns, he recognised the importance of technical innovations.
19th century
Itisalat al-Maghrib Museum
Rabat, Morocco
The telephone appeared in the second part of the 19th century, when the possibility of transmitting speech electrically was discovered. In Morocco, Mulay Hasan I introduced telephone lines as part of his promotion of infrastructure.
The first postmaster's office in Tunis, 1892
19th century
Musée des Postes, Télégraphes et Télécommunications
Tunis, Tunisia
As an element of continuity with local handicraft and woodwork traditions, the technical innovation (the post office and its furniture) was interpreted according to traditional furniture design, made of wood with floral decoration, mixed with Tunisian, Turkish and European decorative elements.
Map of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia
1827
Austrian State Archives
Vienna, Austria
After the Congress of Vienna (1815), Austria annexed territories of northern Italy, and the city of Venice, formerly a republic, became part of the Kingdom of Lombardo-Venezia. Austria absorbed the Venetian trade routes on the Adriatic Sea towards the Ottoman Empire introducing infrastructure, as this map of the postal routes shows.
The Route of the Overland mail to India; Aden
c. 1850-1852
Victoria and Albert Museum
London, United Kingdom
Before the opening of the Suez Canal, the British postal service to India followed a maritime and overland route. Steamships of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) sailed from Southampton to Alexandria (Egypt), then passengers and mail went via Cairo to Suez by caravan and boat; from Suez they sailed by another steamship to Aden and India.
The bronze statue representing 22 countries of member of Universal Postal Union
1874
Istanbul Postal Museum
Istanbul, Turkey
Following the Tanzimat (military, administrative, fiscal and educational Ottoman reforms), an Ottoman postal service was introduced in the empire from 1840. The Ottoman Empire joined the Universal Postal Union in 1874.
Photograph of the installation of the telephone exchange in Tangier
1883
Itisalat al-Maghrib Museum
Rabat, Morocco
The first telephone exchange in Tangier was installed in 1883. Events like this were documented by photographs representing more than just routine technical works: two major inventions, photography and the telephone, celebrated reciprocally.
1883
The British Library
London, United Kingdom
This map was included in a guide with sailing indications for British ships crossing the Red Sea on the route to India. Submarine telegraph cables had been installed between Suez, Sawakin and Jiddah (ports on the Red Sea). Telegraph communication developed also between ports and along strategic trade and mail routes.
10 cents an issue. Le Télégraphe. Morning Newspaper. Special connections with the whole world.
1886
National Library of France
Paris, France
Towards the end of the 19th century, telegraph had developed and was widespread and familiar. It was seen as another sign of progress.
Document attesting to the 'Telegraph Crisis' between Morocco and Great Britain
1887
General Library and Archives
Tetouan, Morocco
European diplomatic and economic interference in Morocco, consolidated by the Commercial Treaty of 1856, is illustrated by the crisis over the Tangier–Gibraltar telegraph line. The British Eastern Telegraph Company built the line in 1884–87 without the permission of the Sultan Mulay al-Hasan as a fait accompli and in spite of his protests.
1888
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Alexandria, Egypt
The Khedive Ismail is considered one of the great reformers of administration and infrastructure in Egypt. Among the innovations he introduced were stamps in 1866. After that date, stamps were commonly used in the Egyptian postal system, as this stamp issued by the Khedive Tawfiq shows.
1891
Tunis, Tunisia
The French protectorate inaugurated the new post office building. Postal and telegraph communications were integrated in the postal service network between the Tunisian protectorate and France, and between Tunisia and Algeria.
1891
Musée des Postes, Télégraphes et Télécommunications
Tunis, Tunisia
A painting showing the interior of the post office built in Tunis during the French protectorate. Life in the city was reshaped by the introduction of the communication services: the architecture recalls European buildings and a new concept of public space is introduced into the traditional way of life.
Royal Decree to establish the post of Makhzen
22 November 1892
Al-Hassania Library
Rabat, Morocco
The Post Makhzen, the official postal service, was issued by Mulay al-Hasan I as part of his reforms in 1892. The organisation of postal services was based on local employees, and it was a means of asserting full sovereignty through the control of the postal connections in the cities.
A telegram from the Khedive of Egypt to the Ottoman sultan
15 December 1897
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Alexandria, Egypt
Telegrams were a widespread form of communication at the political and official level.
Switchboard (Telefon Santrali)
1895
Istanbul Postal Museum
Istanbul, Turkey
When the telephone was introduced it was not yet possible for callers to contact people directly. Callers had to be connected via a switchboard like this one.
1903–1909
Istanbul, Turkey
Istanbul’s main post office was built by the architect Vedat Tek, a leading figure in the Turkish First National Architecture Movement. This building symbolises technical, urban and artistic trends in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Located in the Sirkeci quarter of Fatih district, near the Sirkeci railway station and Eminönü port.
Istanbul Main Post Office Opening Ceremony
1903–1909
Istanbul Postal Museum
Istanbul, Turkey
The inauguration of the main post office was a public event in a cosmopolitan city such as Istanbul. It was built and inaugurated in crucial years for the city, when different political ideas were in conflict, yet the post office was still a visible sign of modernity.
The young ladies of the telephones: a view of a Parisian telephone exchange
1904
National Library of France
Paris, France
The telephone was another 19th-century invention celebrated in France with the publication of prints and photographs. They also portrayed the social changes brought about by the new inventions, in particular a new social class of women employees.
1907
Itisalat al-Maghrib Museum
Rabat, Morocco
During the reign of Sultan Mulay ‘Abd al-Aziz telegraph lines were introduced in Morocco.