Postal services the world over have been a tool in bringing communities closer together. Almost everyone in the world depends on the post office. Before the invention of the telegraph and telephone, the postal service was the only reliable means of long-distance communication. Post offices have been a major contributing factor in the development of countries. Here in the United States, it helped unite Americans who were scattered over a vast continent into a single nation. Some ancient civilizations developed highly organized postal systems. The Incas and the Mayan civilizations in North and South America developed a network of relay runners, who delivered messages and packages between major cities. In Asia, the Mongol leader Kubla Khan developed a highly organized postal system, with more than 10,000 postal stations, during the 1200s. When the press was invented in the 1400s, demand for a postal service became greater. In 1477, King Louis XI of France created a postal system of mounted couriers with regular schedules. This system is not unlike the system we use today, except that modern mail carriers uses vehicles, not horses. The United States Congress issued the first postage stamps in 1847. The Pony Express was probably one of the most well known postal services of all time. The Pony Express was only operational for two years (1860-1861) and ran between St. Joseph, MO, and Sacramento, CA. The transcontinental telegraph brought about an end to the Pony Express. Today, airmail service and automated processing have helped the postal service bring our human community even closer together.