In 1871, the Great Northern Telegraph Company and affiliated firms completed submarine telegraph cables connecting Shanghai and Hong Kong to the existing Europe-to-Asia telegraph network, which ran onward through Southeast Asia and India to the Middle East and Europe. The new link let European and Asian trading houses exchange tea, silk, and general commodity price information within hours instead of the weeks required for mail steamers. Treaty port merchants and foreign trading firms in China were early and heavy users of the service, and the network expanded further in subsequent years to reach Japan and additional Chinese ports.
Relevance to Trade History
Direct telegraphic contact between East Asian trading ports and European markets sharply reduced the information lag that had long separated Asian commodity producers from European buyers.
Read the full story in our article The Telegraph and Faster Commercial Communication.
Source: World History Encyclopedia. See our Sources & Methodology page for how we select and verify references.