Learn about the history of the telegraph from its origin, the construction of the first telegraph line in Mexico, as well as the laws that affect it and the jump to satellite technology during the 1968 Olympic Games. Discover the morse code communication medium that connected to an entire nation long before the internet existed.
Long before we were all online 24 hours a day, 365 days a year thanks to the internet, Mexico was connected for the first time thanks to electromagnetism and the Telegraph; one of the most important means of communication in the history of humanitywhich played a very important role during the most significant historical events in the country.
The telegraph in Mexico witnessed historical events, from the Maximilian’s Empirethe government of juarezthe arrival of Porfirio Diazthe Mexican Revolution, the Oil Expropriation, World War II, the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico and countless events whose information was surely shared by means of the telegraph immediately.
Since its difficult arrival in Mexico at the end of 1840, the telegraph went through several phases that focused on expanding its capacity to connect and the laws that regulate it underwent several modifications until it became the largest communications network in the country. Know the complete history of the telegraph, below.
The history of the telegraph and the Morse Key
Alfred Morse (1791-1872) was an American painter and inventor who along with his partner alfred vailcreated a telegraphic communication system and a coded language to use it: The Morse code.
The first time the telegraph was used in the USA was on May 24, 1844. with the famous phrase “What hath God wrought?” which means “What has God brought us?”, sent from the first court in Washington to Baltimore, Maryland.
Morse, a painter by trade, is said to have become obsessed with electromagnetism after his first wife died. In his painting studio, Alfred Morse designed in pencil and paper what after some adjustment would become the telegraph and the key to use it, that would also reach Mexico in 1849.
The telegraph in Mexico
The telegraph was officially established in Mexico by the Mexican merchant, businessman and diplomat of Spanish origin Juan de la Granjawho arrived in Mexico during the War of Independence in 1817 and had to retire to the US in 1827, since the situation for the Spaniards on Mexican soil was difficult.
In the USA, he founded “El noticiório de ambos mundos”, the first publication in Spanish that was read in New York, where defended Hispanic interests of what he considered to be an expansionist claim on the part of the Americans and he helped the mexicans newcomers to the USA.
For his actions in favor of the nation, Juan de la Granja was appointed vice-consul of Mexico in Washington in the year 1838, he obtained Mexican nationality in 1842; year in which he became consul general of Mexico in the US.
Juan de la Granja returned to Mexico in 1846 and continued focused on the business of printed information, until he was appointed deputy for Jalisco in 1848power with which acquired a concession for the installation of the first telegraphic communication system in Mexico in 1849; however, he had to find investors to carry it out, which was very difficult and he ended up with a much lower budget than expected.
The first public demonstration of the use of the telegraph in Mexico happened in 1850., with a message between the National Palace and the Mining College. In 1851 The telegraph was officially inaugurated in Mexico by President Mariano Arista.
The first telegraph connection in Mexico
The original plan was to connect Mexico City with Veracruz and then connect Acapulco with Veracruz by means of the telegraphto have both oceans communicated.
Due to lack of budget the first telegraphic connection in Mexico was from Nopalucan in Puebla to Mexico City in 1851 and the first message that was sent was “Extraordinary correspondence of the English package is passing through”. The coasts were connected in 1852 and in 1853 the second telegraph line from Mexico City to León, Guanajuato was built.
The telegraph in Mexico during the Empire of Maximilian and the government of Juárez
Thanks to the intermittent outbreaks of guerillas as a consequence of the Second French Intervention in Mexico, the Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg could not maintain the use of telegraph lines as exclusive to the state, but had to grant around 8 concessions to individuals to ensure the maintenance and operation of the systems. However, the state was still the only one that could build the infrastructure.
On December 2, 1865, the telegraph regulation was decreedthe first in the history of Mexico where everything related to its technical and administrative mechanisms are included, which would be the basis for all telegraphic regulations that would exist in Mexico until the end of the telegraph’s life in 1992.
In 1867, Benito Juárez created the Office of the Telegraph Lines of the Supreme Government and he decreed the federalization of the telegraphs that were under the concession of individuals, who obtained permission to build their own lines. In this way, there were 4 types of ownership: Federal, subsidized by the government, state and private.
The Porfiriato and the Mexican Revolution, the golden era of the telegraph in Mexico
One of the goals that Porfirio Diaz managed to develop during his term, was the modernization of the country in its technologies, infrastructure, communications and that Mexico was up to date regarding world issues. The telegraph was one of his main prides, because in his time, it was the fastest and most direct way of communicating.
In 1872 the General Directorate of National Telegraphs and the network went from 8 thousand kilometers to more than 40 thousand kilometers in length, giving rise to the “Golden era of the telegraph.”
In 1907, the Ministry of Communications and Public Works had 379 telegraph offices in action. and the railways had supported the government by allowing it to be connected to their telegraph lines. Between 1907 and 1911 special emphasis was given to radiotelegraphy or wireless telegraphy.
Without knowing it, Díaz had built from the telegraph one of the most important and solid communication networks in Mexico.which was key to overthrow him during the Mexican Revolution.
What did Porfirio Díaz think of the way he governed the people of Mexico?
The telegraph and the arrival of the satellite
In 1926 the Electrical Communication Lawwhich gave the federation full jurisdiction over the telegraph, which gave the Ministry of Communications and Public Works all the powers to manage the telegraph and its facilities.
In 1933the “Great Depression” causes the post office and telegraph address to become one, which causes dissatisfaction among telegraphers, who begin a movement against it. In 1942, February 14 was proclaimed Telegraph Operator Day. In that same year, President Manuel Ávila Camacho separates again the direction of telegraphs.
In 1949 is created the International Telegraph Service Department and in 1954 the first western microwave route is installed; equipment purchased from France to improve the telegraphy and public telephone service.
In 1957 the private company known as “Télex (Teleprinter Exchanges) revolutionized telegraphy in Mexico with analogous techniques and the first satellite was put into orbit, which gives the country hope for one day reaching satellite communication, whose first organization is established in 1964 and Mexico joins in 1967.
Mexico built its first satellite communications station to be able to transmit the olympic games of Mexico 68; from then on, we have satellite communication service. The telegraph was beginning to fall behind.
The world began to use satellite technology to keep its means of transport safe on land, sea and in the air. In 1985, Mexico acquired its own satellites: Morelos I and Morelos II, based at the Iztapalapa control center; seeking to connect all of Mexico.
The end of the telegraph in Mexico
In 1989 Telecommunications of Mexico (TELECOMM) was born, a decentralized public organization that served to assist the Federal Executive in terms of telegraph and radiotelegraphy services, already considered merely strategic at that time.
To 1990the use of satellite communications services became available to the public and eventually On December 22, 1992, 141 years after the first telegraphic message in Mexico, the Morse code of the country’s Telegraphic System was officially canceledsending his last message to Nopalucan, the place from which the first message by telegraph in Mexico came from.
Meet the Flores Magón, the family of revolutionaries who used the media to publicize the fight for the freedom of Mexico.
Mexican Museum of the Telegraph
On November 22, 1966, the Telegraph Museum was founded as a section of the National Museum of Art. Here you can find more detailed information on the evolution of the telegraphic communications service from its inception in 1849 to the last transmission of a telegram in Mexico in 1992.
The building was the Ministry of Communications and Public Works until 1955, later it became the General Administration of Telegraphs and in 1973 it became the General Archive of the Nation. In the year of nineteen eighty one becomes the National Museum of Art, belonging to the National institute of fine arts.