††††The telegraph is a way of sending messages over a distance, especially by means of electrical signals.
In 430 BC, there is a record of flaming being were used to signal from hilltop to hilltop in Greece.
Electric telegraphy began in 1774, when George Louis Lesage of Switzerland built an electric telegraph with 26 lines - one for each letter of the alphabet.
In 1796, Francisco Salva installed a telegraph link between Madrid and Aranjuez in Spain, a distance of 50 kilometres (30 miles). The link consisted of 44 wires that allowed 22 characters to be transmitted.
