Global Communications, 1561 to 2016

Linge, Nigel

Abstract

This chapter explores how the UK has always been at the forefront of global communications. It starts with packet ships that were used to carry handwritten messages across the oceans of the world and established Falmouth in Cornwall as an international communications hub. Electricity then replaced ships and in 1866 the first reliable Atlantic telegraph cable connected the UK with Canada and USA. A global communications revolution ensued which, by 1902, resulted in the world being encircled by a network of telegraph cables. New technology enabled communications via radio and the telephone replaced the telegraph. The 1960s brought the telecommunications satellite and then in the 1980s, optical fibres laid the foundations of our modern, digitally interconnected world. Throughout this period, Cornwall has consistently been strategically important for keeping the UK connected to the world, making it one of the most archaeologically important telecommunications sites in the country.

Citation

Linge, N. Global Communications, 1561 to 2016. In The Oxford Handbook of Industrial Archaeology (425-444). Oxford University Press (OUP). https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199693962.013.44

• Online Publication Date: Apr 20, 2022
• Deposit Date: Mar 18, 2024
• Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
• Pages: 425-444
• Book Title: The Oxford Handbook of Industrial Archaeology
• Chapter Number: 26
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199693962.013.44