Wired notes that the Trans-Atlantic cable connecting North America and Europe was completed on July 27th, 1866 - which revolutionized communications. We tend to think of the net as completely new, but it's really more of a continuum in communications terms: from slow foot/boat traffic, through telegraph and radio, and finally on to satellites and the internet. The 1866 cable was the biggest jump though: before that went down, news traveled from London to New York at the speed of sea travel. Afterwards? It was suddenly instantaneous.

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