Steadily increasing levels of interaction and contact are among the factors which helped to secure state hegemony and to foster a wider sense of nationhood in early-modern England. Theoretical debates on this theme have not been supported by a substantial body of reliable empirical work regarding the character of communications. Indeed, research on the speed, volume and cost of communications by road in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England has not featured prominently in the work of either geographers or historians. This article uses royal postmasters' records on communications for official purposes in the time of Elizabeth I and James I to explore the efficiency with which correspondence was exchanged and official journeys were undertaken. While, in general, major improvements in average journey times were apparent during this period, differences in the speed of contact between London and key provincial centres, on the one hand, and geographically more remote locations, on the other, persisted. Thus, for government communications, there were marked variations in national 'connectivity'. In addressing the notion that an increased density and volume of communications played a role in developing further a conscious sense of national identity, the paper also discusses briefly the social and cultural impact of regular, long-distance contact within England during this period. (C) 1998 Academic Press.
