Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Movable arms on hilltop towers carried messages faster than any rider. The figure is taken from Science Museum, London, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a history fact?

Yes. It sits on the History shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

Chappe's semaphore network spanned France

Movable arms on hilltop towers carried messages faster than any rider Claude Chappe built a line of towers between Paris and Lille in the early 1790s, each with a pivoting arm and indicator boards that operators read by telescope and repeated. A message could reach the capital within minutes in good weather. The network eventually covered thousands of kilometres before the electric telegraph replaced it. It sits in Mondo's history collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Science Museum, London

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

Go further

History trivia Technology trivia

More facts like this

The Penny Black was the first adhesive postage stampRowland Hill's flat rate penny post went on sale in May 1840 Morse sent the first public telegraph messageA line from Washington to Baltimore carried a short biblical line in May 1844 A submarine cable joined Europe and America in 1866Messages that once took ten days by ship now arrived in minutes Joan of Arc led French forces to relieve the Siege of OrleansA teenage peasant girl inspired French victories during the Hundred Years' War in 1429 The Edict of Nantes granted religious rights to French ProtestantsKing Henry IV issued the decree in 1598 to end decades of religious war Honeybees communicate flower locations through dancingA waggle dance informs hive mates of the direction and distance to nectar.

Tags: semaphore, communication, france

Chappe's semaphore network spanned France: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Movable arms on hilltop towers carried messages faster than any rider. The figure is taken from Science Museum, London, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a history fact?: Yes. It sits on the History shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.