Technological Developments

The Industrial Revolution did not just take place in factories. It affected transportation and communication as well.

Railroads Before the introduction of railroads, transportation from the interiors of colonies to coastal ports was by water or by roads. Most colonies had few roads, and those that existed were usually poorly maintained and often unusable during rainy seasons. Transportation by water was limited to coastal areas and river basins. The introduction of railroads lowered the cost of transporting raw materials for shipment to Europe. At the same time, railroads helped open up colonial markets for manufactured goods.

Europeans often pointed to their railroad projects as evidence that imperialism helped the peoples of Asia and Africa. However, providing new transportation technology to the colonies primarily served the interests of the colonizers. In India, the British built a complex railway network that stretched from the interior to the coasts in order to ship raw materials out of the country easily.

British-born Cecil Rhodes (1853–1902), founder of De Beers Diamonds, was an especially enthusiastic investor in a railroad project that was to stretch from Cape Town, in the Cape Colony of South Africa, to Cairo, Egypt. Connecting all of the British-held colonies with a transportation network could make governance easier and aid in mobilizing for war, if necessary. The project was never completed because Britain never gained control over all the land on which it was to be built. The overwhelming majority of railway workers in Africa were natives who were paid far lower wages than their European counterparts. Thus, railroad technology was a means of extracting as many resources as possible from subject lands while paying colonial laborers as little as possible.

Steamships Because they required huge quantities of coal as fuel, early steamships could travel only limited distances. However, steamboats could transport people, mail, and goods on navigable rivers such as the Ganges in South Asia and the Congo in Africa. After the development of more efficient steam engines in 1870, steamships became practical for long distances. In the 1870s, the development of compression refrigeration equipment made it possible to ship perishables such as meat and dairy products across oceans.

in 1832,

Telegraph Invented

the electric telegraph

transformed communications. Instead of taking days, weeks, or even months, news could travel instantaneously. Telegraph service was introduced in India in 1850, just five years after it started in Britain. Telegraph lines often followed railroad routes. Submarine (underwater) telegraph cables soon crossed oceans. In 1866 the first permanent transatlantic cable was laid between the United States and England. Telegraph service between England and Australia was introduced in 1872, and in 1874 service between Portugal and Brazil allowed instant communication between Europe and South America.