Before newspapers and the telegraph: information distribution in Livland more than two hundred years ago

Abstract

This paper concerns information dissemination in the Livland province of the Russian Empire at the turn of the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, when its rulers sent their orders to the provincial capital, Riga, by horse post. In Riga they were translated into German, and the ancient network of information dissemination used by the Lutheran Church was engaged. The orders of both the Empire and provincial rulers were delivered to Lutheran pastors, who announced this information to their parishes from the pulpit, speaking in Latvian or Estonian so as to be understood by local peasants (serfs), and allowed the texts to circulate around the manors of the parish. The infrastructure of the information network, its maintenance and threats, the speed of information distribution, information safety and security, and the fight against the delivery of false information are all topics of consideration. It is then concluded that information technology has changed drastically throughout time, but the problems it confronts remain quite similar.