Universal Postal Union

1874

In Bern, twenty-two countries signed the General Postal Union treaty, standardizing rates and guaranteeing that a letter stamped in one country would be delivered in another. International mail became cheap, predictable, and staggeringly fast. The union still exists, under a slightly different name, as a United Nations agency. It was one of the first truly global institutions, predating the League of Nations by nearly half a century.