World Post Day is celebrated every year on October 9, to mark the anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), Switzerland. UPU was established by the Treaty of Bren in 1874, to coordinate postal policies among member nations, in addition to the worldwide postal system.
It was in 1969, October 9th was first declared World Post Day at the UPU Congress in Tokyo, Japan. The proposal was submitted by Shri Anand Mohan Narula, a member of the Indian delegation. Since then, World Post Day has been celebrated all over the world to highlight the importance of postal services.
With the advancement of various mediums of technology, posting a letter or a card to your dear ones has become a rarity. Various civilizations had various ways of sending a message thousands of miles across.
Origins of what we now know as the postal service date to Ancient Egypt circa 2500 BC, while the oldest official postal service is found in 550 BC Iran.
How did the modern mail system begin?
The beginning of the modern mail system can be traced back to France. Frenchman Jean-Jacques Renouard de Villayer, established a postal system in 1653 in Paris. He delivered the letters that were dropped in the mailboxes set up by him. He would deliver on one condition that the letters should use the postage pre-paid envelopes sold by him.
Later, it was in England in 1837, a schoolmaster, Rowland Hill, invented the adhesive postage stamp. He was knighted for his invention. The first postage stamp system in the world was issued in England in 1840, because of Rowland Hill’s efforts.
All United Nations member states are allowed to become members of the UPU and there are 192 members as of today.
