 The Postal Service at Costa Rica
HISTORY OF THE POSTAL SERVICES
The link between the born of the postal services and the men history is given with the fact that man is a social being and in consecuence, he was creating through the ages a complete system to break the isolation of the first ages of the humanity and built a system that today, compose all the societies in a global vision, product of the globalization in the communications media and the technologic advance, like the satellite television. That which occurs now in Europe or Asia we can see and listen here in Costa Rica, almost at the moment.
We must do a brief journey through the evolution of this concept of the communication between the human beings and that bring the born of the postal service.
First was the talked message. The oral tradition begining at the early centuries of man and help as fundament to preserve the memory of an age in which the language beginning to articulate in the small human groups.
Going to the writing, that become to formalize and to do less perishable the memory of the oral tradition, clay tablets, animal skins, stone tablets, were used to write the primigeny history.
In Egypt, one of the most antique civilizations,the dynasties had a postal system, in which the Pharaoh and the powerful priestly class, sent their messages through the Empire. The greeks used the carrier pigeons to send the results of the Olympic games. Marco Polo told us how Genghis Kan sent his courier by horseman through Europe, and horseman must make a daily journey no less than 250 miles. At Middle Age there was a Postal Service between the Hanseatic League and the Paris, Upsala and Bologna Universities. The first public postal service was inaugurated in Cataluña and called "Troters".
And what concern about our lands? We don´t have any notice if there were a postal service between our small native communities, but is possible that they used the services of the great Empire of the Mayas, Aztecas and Incas , which sometimes arrived to our land. The Mayas call their postes Tayacanes, the Aztecas Paguanias and the Incas Chasquis.
In the Colonial time existed the "Encomenderos" or "Matineros" that travel between Cartago and the other towns.
In January 1863, our First State Chief ordered a daily postal service between San José; Cartago, Heredia and Alajuela. In 1862 have been done the first stamp emission and in 1863 Costa Rica was the only latinoamerican country that participated in the Postal Congress at Paris and our country become member of the Unión Postal Universal (UPU), being part of the original 33 founders countries.
In 1911, the American countries, joined by Spain and Portugal, decided in the field of the UPU, create a regional organism for their postal services. At the city of Montevideo, capital CITY of Uruguay, was realized the Hispano-Luso-American Conference formalizing the Postal Union of Americas, Spain and Portugal. Costa Rica become member of the U.P.A.E.P. since the same year.
In 1998, on april 24th, the Asamblea Legislativa ordained the Law 7768, transforming the old Commnications System, to which belong Correos, in a new enterprise: CORREOS DE COSTA RICA S.A. with a period for this Limited Company during 99 years and its residence at San José, Costa Rica.
CORREOS will be ruled with the Law of CORREOS, the Commercial Law, the Civilian Law,the Works Law and will be subject to the international postal and telecommunications agreements signed by Costa Rica.
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