Painting of smoke signals by Frederick Remington- Public Domain
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Smoke Signals as Communication
Smoke signals were a popular form of communication in the 1600's amongst Native Americans and the Chinese. Although very simple, smoke signals allowed for for instant longer distance communication to take place. Typically, the sender would be at a place of elevation (hill/mountain) and hit a blanket over a fire to create puffs of smoke. The code by which the puffs could be interpreted as a message were established beforehand by sender and receiver. Commonly used signals that were established include one puff to gain attention, two puffs signaling safety, and three puffs signaling danger. Although effective for short messages, this form of communication lacked the ability to send and receive complex messages. |