Smoke Signals 

Before the invention of radio, telephone and newer technologies, people had to use different ways to
communicate information across longer distances. Native Americans used smoke signals, controlling
puffs of smoke of different sizes, to communicate with distant groups in their tribes. In the west,
filmmakers portrayed Native Americans as master communicators with smoke signals. (Lone Ranger by
Johnny Depp). While this made for interesting movies, the reality of how smoke signals were used isn't
as complex. They were simple messaging systems used to send basic transmissions over long distances.

For example, they would use smoke signals to warn of attacks planned by other tribes. Beacon fires
were used for many centuries, to communicate important news, such as the death of a king or queen.
The one drawback of using smoke signals is that the enemy could also see them. They are sometimes
still used for ceremonial purposes. They’re also still in use today, as the election of a new pope is
signaled by white smoke.

The first thing you'll need to create a smoke signal is a fire. Build your fire in an open area as high up as
you can. Your goal is to have the signal seen from many miles away, so a clearing at the top of a
mountain is a good location. After you have a good fire going, add grass and green sticks and branches
to your fire. This will smother the flames and create a dense, white smoke.

To send your message, wet a blanket to keep it from burning and throw it over your smoking fire. Once
the trail of upward smoke has ceased, pull the blanket off to send a white puff skyward, and then put
the blanket back on. This will send a one puff message. Now this is important as every puff matters

One puff -- Sending a single plume of smoke would commonly be an attention signal. This meant that
something unusual was going on, but there's no cause for alarm or imminent danger. It was commonly a
sign to watch for further signals.

Two puffs -- A two puff signal meant that all was well and that camp was established and safe.

Three puffs -- This was an alarm signal, Continuous single columns of smoke indicated greater danger
and a call for help.

While this sounds like an extremely basic form of communication, you need to remember that it's what
the puffs of smoke represent that counts. The messages that Native American tribes sent were simple,
but very important. 

Newspaper

If a newspaper is defined by the functional criteria of publicity, seriality, periodicity, and currency or
actuality (that is, as a single current-affairs series published regularly at intervals short enough for
readers to keep abreast of incoming news) then Relation was the first European newspaper. Relation:
Aller Fuernemmen und Gedenckwuerdigen Historien was a German-language news bulletin published in
Strasbourg in the 17th century. Relation began in print format in 1605, as a successor to handwritten
news reports Carolus had prepared for wealthy customers.

Many of the issues have not survived; the earliest ones known to still exist date from 1609. A title page
was printed once a year, intended to be bound in a book with the issues of that year, each of which
consisted of a few pages with a dateline at the start. Relation appears to have run until later in the 17th
century, possibly ending in 1659 or 1667.

Johann Carolus (1575−1634) was a German publisher of the first newspaper, called Relation aller
Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien (Account of all distinguished and commemorable stories).
Still, the pressure on the young businessman increased and he had to think of new ways to guarantee a
financial stability for his company. In 1604, Carolus started to deliver a very small amount of weekly new

 One year later, Carolus had another brilliant idea when he came to think that a much greater amount of
people would like to read the weekly news. In order to reach more people, Carolus had to change the
production procedure and figured out that he had to print and sell an enormous amount
of newspapers in order to make profit. This was very risky since Carolus had no idea if that many people
were willing to pay for it. Fortunately for him, the business model was very successful and he printed
four to six pages every week.

Carolus faced trouble after about three years of publishing. He published the news about financial
difficulties of the government and only two days later it was decided that Carolus had to be more careful
and before publishing anything critical, he was advised to consult the government. This became known
as the first censorship incidence. After these conflicts, Carolus openly announced that more censorship
in the future would may cause financial difficulties for his business.

The Relation is recognized by the World Association of Newspapers, as well as many authors, as the
world's first newspaper.

Royal Mail

When Charles I first introduced public mail service in 1635, letters were carried from one ‘post’ to the
next ‘post’ by carriers on foot or on horseback. Up until that time, the post system was reserved for the
use of the King and his Court. At each ‘post’ the ‘postmaster’ would remove the letters for his immediate
area and then hand the rest to another ‘post boy’ who would carry them on. Letters took a long time to
reach their destination with foot messengers traveling less than eighteen miles in a day. A letter sent to
Edinburgh from London might not receive a response for nearly two months.