ABSTRACT

The opening of the Suez Canal in November, 1869, dramatically reduced the time needed to travel between West and East by sea from London to Bombay (by about 40 percent) and from London to Singapore (by about 30 percent) (Karabell 2004). 1 The shortening of distance achieved by building this canal was crucial to the integration of the world economy. Steamships, much like airplanes in the twentieth century, became the most important nineteenth century innovation in shipping technology. A regular transatlantic steam service carrying things of high value such as passengers and mail became fashionable from the 1860s forward. The screw propeller, the compound engine, and steel hulls allowed for bigger ships and shorter turnaround time in the ports, all of which made sea transport more efficient (Findlay and O’Rourke 2003).