Name of Object:

Postal map

Location:

Istanbul, Türkiye

Holding Institution:

Istanbul Postal Museum

 About Istanbul Postal Museum, Istanbul

Date of Object:

1911

Provenance:

Istanbul

Description:

The network of routes for sending messages and transporting troops and supplies was carried out with a relay system, established in the 16th century in the Ottoman Empire. The messengers, who conveyed dispatches throughout the country, were identified as the Tatars. Private or personal correspondence was not a part of that relay system; it was built to fulfil governmental needs. Because of this reason the reaya (public) created an alternative postal method by using caravans, pilgrims, and private couriers called ulaks. The Tanzimat Decree, which was the declaration of process included reformation, modernization and westernization in 1839, proved that the Ottoman Empire was focused on its policy of changing governing to be more like modern Western European-style administrative practices.

Type of Object

Map

Citation of this web page:

"Postal map" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;AWE;tr;70;en

Copyedited by: Daniel de la VegaDaniel de la Vega

Daniel de la Vega is a copy editor based in Portland, Oregon. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in linguistics from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 2014 and has since done editing and localization work on everything from college applications to magazines to video game dialogue.

MWNF Working Number: TR2 066