Sources and methods of reconstruction of postal roads in the second half of the 18th century on the example of the former Lublin Voivodeship

Abstract The subject of the article is reconstructing the routes of postal roads within the borders of the Lublin Voivodeship in the second half of the 18th century. The author has attempted to reconstruct the routes of postal roads, using the retrogression method and a cartographic research method with the use of GIS tools. For this purpose, manuscript cartographic and descriptive sources from the late 18th and 19th centuries were used. Cartographic material from the end of the 18th century in connection with descriptive sources constituted the basis for determining the existence of a postal connection. However, maps from the beginning of the 19th century constituted the basis for the reconstruction of the routes of postal roads. The obtained results allowed for the determination of the role of the Lublin Voivodeship in the old Polish communication system. The research has made us aware of the need for further in-depth work on communication in the pre--partition era (before 1795).