section_path: History/Other systems
section_name: Other systems
paragraph_text: Other systems
  
  Another important postal service was created in the Islamic world by the caliph Mu'awiyya; the service was called barid, for the name of the towers built to protect the roads by which couriers travelled.
  
  By 3000 BC, Egypt was using homing pigeons for pigeon post, taking advantage of a singular quality of this bird, which when taken far from its nest is able to find its way home due to a particularly developed sense of orientation. Messages were then tied around the legs of the pigeon, which was freed and could reach its original nest. By the 19th century, homing pigeons were used extensively for military communications.
  
  Charlemagne extended to the whole territory of his empire the system used by Franks in northern Gaul and connected this service with that of missi dominici.
  
  In the mid-11th century, flax traders known as the Cairo Geniza Merchants from Fustat, Egypt wrote about using a postal service known as the kutubi. The kutubi system managed routes between the cities of Jerusalem, Ramla, Tyre, Ascalon, Damascus, Aleppo, and Fustat with year-round, regular mail delivery.
  
  Many religious orders had a private mail service. Notably, the Cistercians had one which connected more than 6,000 abbeys, monasteries, and churches. The best organization, however, was created by the Knights Templar.
  
  In 1716, Correos y Telégrafos was established in Spain as public mail service, available to all citizens. Delivery postmen were first employed in 1756 and post boxes were installed firstly in 1762.