The Swedish post office was founded in February 1636. Drawing on examples from continental Europe, the post office was established as a postal relay by which the mail was transported from one town to another. Like those all over Europe, the organized Swedish postal systems simplified economic and political exchange and made it easier to transport information and goods from one part of the continent to another. In the early seventeenth century, Sweden’s involvement in the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48) highlighted the need for regular information from the continent, and models for organizing a postal system were found on the European continent. In addition, the domestic debate over the abuse of the peasant farmers’ obligation to provide horses for the transportation of nobles and royal messengers also contributed to the establishment of the post office. The latter was seen as a means to counteract widespread abuse. The Swedish post office, however, differed in two significant ways from its European sister organizations. First, the Swedish post office was the post of the Swedish state and eventually became an integrated part of the state administration. The organization was created to serve the needs of the state bureaucracy. Second, the Swedish postal routes were manned by allotted peasant farmers, so called postbönder [post-peasants]. These peasants were given exemptions from taxation and conscription as compensation for their work. On the continent, the postal relays were usually manned by hired personnel, namely people employed by the postal organization. The Swedish choice of an infrastructure built on peasants is explained by the limited capacity and rudimentary organization of the state administration. The postbönder were the backbone of the Swedish post office until the 1870s.