Pre-philately is generally associated with the period before 1840 when the first postage stamp, the Penny Black, was issued by Great Britain. However, in the Holy Land the first stamps were introduced much later. The Turks issued their first stamps in 1863, but these were not available in the Holy Land until a few years later. The pre-philatelic postal history of the Holy Land has its roots in Biblical times. The earliest letters available to private collectors that are connected to the postal history of the Holy Land date back to the fourteenth-century Venetian mails. Other than the religious functionaries of the Holy Cities (Jews and Christians) and the merchants concentrated near the ports, the Holy Land was not home to a large literate, letter-writing population. Correspondence emanating from the Holy Land during this period generally falls into one of the following categories: commercial, military or religious mail. Depending on the period and circumstances, the letters may have been carried by an organized postal system, a private courier or a combination of both.