Before 1845 mail from Java took months via the Cape.

Evidence

Communications between Java and the Netherlands before 1845 made their long journey around the Cape of Good Hope and took months to arrive. It was not until 1845 that a shorter so called “landmail” (sometimes called “landpost”) through Egypt made consultation between the ministers of colonies and the governors-general—and more direct control over the latter by the former—more feasible. — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 83

Categorization

• XREF: Transport infrastructure as control technology resonates with the reader’s existing interest in how communication systems shaped colonial administration.