Signalling
For thousands of years, people have signalled to each other from a distance
using light, smoke, sounds and flags. The earliest signalling systems, however,
could send only a few types of message that had been agreed on beforehand. What
was new about optical telegraphs was that they could send an infinite number
of different signals. Danish inventors wrote of their invention: "They
must be able to speak".
Beacon
Watch. Painting by Christen Dalsgaard, 1848. The Museum of National History
at Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerød.
There were beacons in Denmark as far back as the Middle Ages. When enemies had
landed, the beacons were lit as a warning to everyone. This picture is from
the time of the Slave War of 1848, when convicts from Rendsborg were believed
to have escaped and to be ravaging the country. Beacon watches and arming of
the population were organized throughout much of Jutland. The Slave Rebellion
turned out to be a baseless rumour, however.
