The history of telecommunications dates back to the early times when humans have always wanted to communicate with each other but often do it face to face. What happens if they wanted to communicate with someone who is from afar and not physically present? How can messages be sent across?
These are very pertinent questions that humanity at that time had to answer. We start with a simple definition of what telecommunications is all about and then proceed into discussing the evolution of communication.
What is Telecommunications?
Telecommunications is any communication that uses technology to exchange information between the sender and the receiver. In historical context, the term “telecommunications” is derived from the Greek prefix tele which means “distant” and Latin “communicare” meaning “to share”.
Evolution of Communication
Here, we start by looking at the early methods of communication to allow us better understand the history of telecommunications and then walk our way through to what is currently in use today.
Stone Ages Communication
The Stone Age witness the foundation of communication as humans began to explore the use of both verbal and non-verbal methods to send message accross. During this era, humans communicated using gestures, body language, auditory signals(e.g clapping, basic drumming), rudimentary spoken languages, simple vocal sounds and pictographs like cave paintings.
- Cave Paintings:
This was very popular in prehistoric times among early humans; they used cave paintings to communicate for several purposes like recording events, storytelling, religious purposes, passing on knowledge to future generations etc.
One main strength of cave paintings was that it allows for communication over time. That said, paintings of thousand years can still be found today in places like Altamira Cave in Spain, Chauvet Cave and Lascaux Cave in France. The downsides with this mode of communication are:
- It wasn’t mobile; people at that time had to go visit these caves for communication to be possible.
- It had very low bandwidth; that is there are limits to the amount of paintings that can be applied in these caves.
- Each cave paintings are unique making it very difficult to replicate
- Not everyone could paint in caves at that time
- Not much is known about who regulated those paintings
- Petroglyphs:
Petroglyphs was another means of communication during this era. Communications were made via rock cravings created by taking off some parts of a rock surface through carving, incising, picking or abrading. Aside communication, it was also used to document important events and express cultural and spiritual belief.
Petroglyphs share the same strength and weakness with cave painting above and if you are curious as to how this looks in reality, you can visit Alta Rock Art in Norway and Petroglyphs National Monument in New Mexico, USA.
Bronze Ages Communication (c. 3300 – 1200 BCE)
Communication began to advance in this era, with the development of writing systems, transmission of information over long distance and time improved. These enhanced commercial and administrative activities.
- Writing System:
Another major improvement happened in the way humans communicate when writing was invented. You know, coming from cave painting and petroglyphs to writing was amazing because things started to look more structured and permanent.
The writing system became very useful for record keeping, administration, trade and storytelling. People at that time were able to record administrative details, manage governance, track transactions and inventories which helped in facilitating commerce.
Hieroglyphs
Some notable examples of the writing system at that time are:
- Hieroglyphs which is a complex system of pictorial writing used majorly for religious texts and monumental inscriptions at that time. It originated in Egypt around 3100 BCE. See image above.
- Cuneiform is another good example of the earliest writing system, it uses wedge-shaped marks to write on clay tablets. It is said to have originated in Mesopotamia around 3400 BCE.
- Early Postal System:
An idea for a postal system started to come up since communication by writing was already possible. You know, things needed to be more organized particularly if messages needed to be sent across long distances say empires and regions. This helped to improve governance, trade and military coordination.
These became practicable in places like:
- Royal Road in Persia: Large network of roads were built with relay stations around 500 BCE by the Persian Empire. Couriers could rest and change horses while delivering messages so as to be more efficient.
- Runners in Incan Civilization: Relay runners called chasquis were used to convey messages and goods across extensive network of roads in the Andes during the Incan Empire era.
- Papyrus:
Humans at that time needed to document in a convenient manner, and so the Papyrus plant came in handy. They were first identified as an early form of writing material in ancient Egypt and were used for making papyrus sheet.
Papyrus sheet were made by layering thin strips of the papyrus plant and pressing them together. The final sheet was lightweight and portability, making it the right choice for writing documents that needed to be stored or sent.
The Egyptians at that time used it to record information, literature, administrative purposes and also for the dissemination of religious and literary texts. Other empires began to use it afterward.
Key Highlights:
Communication got a bit better in the Bronze Age. You can still communicate overtime, exchange of information become mobile even though it was limited to horse or human, bandwidth started becoming low since it was now possible to write and move it around. On the other hand, it was still limited because not everyone could write.
Iron Ages Communication (c. 1200 BCE – 600 CE)
Communication is said to have evolved during the Iron Age when the introduction of the non-verbal methods like signal fires and beacons came up. Transmission of signal messages over long-distances with delivery happening in shorter period became possible.
- Signal Fires and beacons:
These were early form of optical telecommunication (communication that uses light to carry information). They were used to send information over long distances. Signal Fires and beacons communication were performed by lighting fires on towers and hills, making it possible to deliver messages quickly across large distances.
They were primarily used by the Greeks, Roman and Chinese people majorly for military communication, calling for assistance, warning of danger, alerting of invasions, relevant events etc.
- Heliographs:
Another form of communication used by the Ancient Greeks and later Romans was Heliographs. This method involved using mirrors to reflect sunlight so as to send coded signals over long distances.
- Parchment:
Parchment is a writing material made from animal skin. It was used very well in Europe and the Middle East for writing religious text, scholarly works and legal documents.
Parchment was introduced as a replacement of the papyrus sheet. It was more durable, and could easily be folded into other forms like book forms (codices) as oppose to the traditional scroll format that was popular at that time.
Late Middle Ages/Renaissance (c. 14th – 18th Century)
The Late Middle Ages and Renaissance periods brought huge advancements in the history of telecommunications. Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in the 15th century disrupted the way information is disseminated by making books and other written materials more accessible. Optical telegraphs like the Claude Chappe’s semaphore system also surfaced around this time and where used to transmit information over distances using visual signals.
- Paper:
Humans showed how much of a difference it was to communicate once we began to document even though it needed to be improved. Paper was then invented in Ancient China to provide a cheaper and more versatile alternative to parchment.
Paper rapidly became main stream because of its huge potentials and cost effectiveness. It eventually became popular in Europe by the 12th century and facilitated the widespread recording and dissemination of information. It didn’t just stopped there; it also paved way for the development of the printing industry.
Key Highlight:
At this point, paper paved way for a couple of things in communication. Aside from the fact that people can still communicate over time, we started having more people who can write which led to man starting to have duplicates. E.g. the Jewish 1st five books were duplicated at that time.
- Printing Press
The invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz Germany around 1440 revolutionized books production and made profound effect in the history of telecommunications. This was when dissemination of knowledge through moveable type became main stream.
Gutenberg’s movable type printing technology when compared to earlier woodblock printing methods was game changing because it allowed for large scale production of books and written materials which made Information more accessible and affordable to everyone, contributing to the wide spread of literacy. It was during this period that we had the Scientific Revolution, Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation.
One of the notable works printed during this era was the Gutenberg Bible. Its production set a significant record in history by demonstrating the huge potentials of the printing press ability to produce uniform texts of high-quality in large scale.
Key Highlight
Printing press allowed for more publishers to the point that many started owning their printing press e.g. Benjamin Franklin. It is important to add that majority of them were wealthy and educated. More bandwidth was available in this era and scientist where able to write more and have the exact copy of their books distributed globally.
Optical Telegraph
The optical telegraph particularly Claude Chappe’s semaphore system was invented during the 18th century to help improve the rate at which information can be delivered. The system used series of towers equipment consisting of two movable arms connected by a crossbar. To communicate, the arms are positioned in several ways to represent different letters, numbers, or symbols.
There are usually operators at each tower that make use of a telescope to view signals from adjacent towers and try to replicate the positions of the arms after carefully observing them. Claude Chappe’s semaphore system became popular and was adopted by several countries like France where it was used so well for military and government communications.
Its development was significant to the history of telecommunications because it improved the speed of communicating over long distances and laid the foundation for the development of more advanced telecommunication system like the electric telegraph that was invented in the 19th century.
Electronic Age Communication (19th Century to Present)
The electronic age had a lot of remarkable inventions that resulted in rapid advancement in technology. The transformation was not only significant to the history of telecommunications but it resulted in revolutionizing the way we communicate today. The technologies and devices invented in this era made global and instantaneous communication significantly better.
- Telegraph
In the 1830s, Samuel Morse wrote the Morse code which was used to develop the electric telegraph. The telegraph system invented used a series of electric signals to represent letters and numbers in Morse code, allowing for near-instantaneous transmission of information over long distances.
The transmission of messages via electric signals travelled quickly through physical wires. This was again a major upgrade in the history of telecommunications because it transformed long-distance methods of communication.
- Telephone
Having seen what the Telegraph was capable of; Alexander Graham Bell thought of an idea that would allow voice communication to be possible over electrical wires, so he began working on the idea in 1873.
In 1876, Bell secured a patent for his idea for the telephone and demonstrated the first working prototype afterward; this was a significant event in the history of telecommunications.
The telephone works by converting sounds into electrical signals, transmit them over wires and reconvert them back into sounds. This innovation greatly enhanced personal and business communication.
- Radio
In the late 19th century, Guglielmo Marconi created the first practical radio transmission system that used electromagnetic waves to transmit audio signals over long distance without considering the need for physical wires.
This eventually created a clear path for the development of broadcasting and wireless communication technologies, allowing for the widespread dissemination of news, sports, music etc.
- Television
The successful launch of the radio already proved that audio transmission was possible. What about visuals? Good question. The first version of the television started off as a mechanical system in the 1920s and was further developed to an electronic system in the 1930s.
Television made the transmission of visual and audio content to wide audience possible. This transformed entertainment, advertising, news distribution and the society at large, providing a new medium of communication in the history of telecommunications.
- Satellite Communication
The launch of the first communication satellite called Telstar in 1962 is very important in the history of telecommunications. It was such that was not to be forgotten, this was because it made global communication possible via relayed signals between ground stations.
Telstar
The Satellites orbiting the Earth could relay signals for communication over large distances, connecting people across the globe even in remote places in real-time. It made long-distance telephone calls, international broadcasting and later connectivity for the internet possible.
- Fibre Optics
The development of fibre optics cable came up as a result of the shortage of copper wires. It was invented using glass to transmit data as light signals. By 1970, a practical fibre optic communication system was built to allow transmission of data as light signals.
This invention was another major milestone achieved in the history of telecommunications because it enabled high-speed internet and improved the capacity of communication networks resulting in higher bandwidth and speed which in the end led to the rapid growth of the internet and modern communication infrastructures.
- Internet
The internet originated from the ARPARNET that was created in 1969. Further developments led to the creation of a global system of interconnected computer networks that allowed information and resources to be shared, this became the internet.
In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web to make information on the internet easily accessible to the public. This today has transformed every area of our lives from commerce, education, health etc. The impact is widely felt even till this day.
- Mobile Phones and Smartphones
The history of telecommunications is not yet complete until we talk about mobile phones and smartphones, at least for now. With the first handheld mobile phone launched and the first mobile phone call happening in 1973 marked the beginning of a new era.
Mobile phones allowed people to make personal voice communication virtually from anywhere in the world. As the technology got better, the device became portable and gave room for text messaging and internet access.
The launch of the IBM Simon which happened to be the first smartphone in 1994 led to a smartphone revolution that began in the early 2000s when telephony was combined with computing power. This enabled a wide range of applications and services majority of which we enjoy today.
