Messengers of the State: The Mail and the Telegraph in the Making of Modern Chile, 1818-1895

Messengers of the State traces the development of Chile’s mail system and telegraph lines and shows how they expanded central state power and the national economy and helped create a new kind of civilian state worker.

At the time of Chile’s independence in 1818, Chilean officials, landowners, and merchants sent just a thin trickle of letters via post offices in major towns. Postal workers served some main offices, and contracted couriers covered long-distance routes, but mail was mostly a pa...