Carrioles used for mail delivery in Mauritius

The provision of postal services dates back to the year 1772, during the colonisation by the French. The first postal service was introduced on 21 December 1772. From the ‘noir facteur’ to information technology driven communication platforms and going through barouche,  train, ship and airplane, the postal service has always been present in the transformation and modernisation of the communication sector.

Under the french colonisation, an inland postal service was initiated in 1772 by Nicolas Lambert to deliver the first newspaper to be published in 1773. There were hardly any roads and mail was delivered on foot by slave postmen named ‘Noir facteurs’.

In 1834, the Postal Service inaugurated the first coach service for delivery of mail between Port Louis and Mahebourg. On the 20th September 1847, Mauritius became the fifth country in the world and the first British Colony to issue postage stamps. They were the famous Mauritius “Post Office” stamps, later known as the red and blue penny.

The introduction of the railway service in 1864 highly contributed to the development of the Postal Services as only 8 post offices existed on the territory prior to 1864.

On 14 November 1933, the first airmail left Mauritius for Reunion Island. On arrival, the mail was transported to Nairobi (Kenya), stopover for a regular airline linking London and Cape Town since 1932.

Image courtesy of: Vacoassiens de tous temps