Connecting The Nineteenth-century World

In the late 1800s, the global telegraph network was completed, connecting all continents and allowing people to communicate quickly and directly for the first time. Roland Wenzlhuemer's book explores the relationship between the development of the telegraph and the process of globalization, using a combination of cultural studies and social science methodology. Through historical GIS mapping, the book examines the structural conditions of the telegraph network and the impact it had on communication and society. It also considers the role of telegraphy in nineteenth-century globalization and whether its faster communication alone can explain its significance.

By the end of the nineteenth century the global telegraph network had connected all continents and brought distant people into direct communication 'at the speed of thought' for the first time. Roland Wenzlhuemer here examines the links between the development of the telegraph and the paths of globalization, and the ways in which global spaces were transformed by this technological advance. His groundbreaking approach combines cultural studies with social science methodology, including evidence based on historical GIS mapping, to shed new light on both the structural conditions of the global telegraph network and the historical agency of its users. The book reveals what it meant for people to be telegraphically connected or unconnected, how people engaged with the technology, how the use of telegraphy affected communication itself and, ultimately, whether faster communication alone can explain the central role that telegraphy occupied in nineteenth-century globalization.