– How did pigeon post work in the old days?
In: 57
~~Passenger~~ Carrier pigeons will always return to their roost. No matter where in the world you take them.
So you start breeding the pigeons in the post offices of major cities. So now all the pigeons raised there will know to return there. You put them in a cage marked “London” or “Dublin” or wherever the bird was raised, and you ship the bird out to like Rome or wherever. Then when they need to send a message from Rome to London, they write a letter, tie it to the bird, and let the bird go. The bird will leave Rome and fly home to London. Once it gets home to the London post office the mail attendant takes the letter and sends the letter on it’s way. The bird can then be put back in a cage and shipped to another city for use again.
Although pigeon is delicious, so apparently there was a problem of mail pigeons being hunted for food. So it was pretty unreliable as a means of communication. Fast, for sure. But unreliable.
EDIT: Carrier pigeon, not passenger pigeon. Two different breeds of pigeon.
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