News of a cut in one of the fiber optic cables that links India and the Middle East with Europe and America got me interested in the old telegraph cable lines that linked India with Great Britain during the first age of globalization.

I came across this excellent website with maps of the old trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific cable routes.

I remember a story about the first age of globalization when the telegraph cable connecting Britain to Europe was severed, a British paper supposedly led with the headline: "Channel Telegraph Cable Cut in Storm: Europe Completely Cut Off!" I wonder if Indians working in call centers had a similarly glib sentiment this time around...

Labels: globalization, south asia