No one knows when postal services started because history is littered with messengers travelling from place to place on foot and later on horseback. But how did international mail come about? By the 1600s and 1700s, many countries had set up national postage systems and had entered into bilateral agreements for the exchange of mail between countries.

By the late 1800s there was a large web of different agreements making the distribution of international mail complicated and inefficient.

Treaty of Berne

In 1863 delegates from 15 european and American countries laid down a number o general principals for the formation of an international postal service but it did not create any formal agreement. There was another conference with delegates from 22 countries in Switzerland in 1874 where the Treaty of Berne established the General Postal Union which grew rapidly with other countries joining until it became the Universal Postal Union in 1878.

In 1948, the Universal Postal Union became a specialized agency of the United Nations. The 16th Universal Postal Union Congress was held in Tokyo, Japan, from October 1 to November 16, 1969. During this conference the delegates voted to declare October 9 each year as World Post Day. Even in this digital age the post is still extremely important for delivering all the goods etc bought on line and for rural communities to keep in touch where there still is no internet.