Misc stuffTravel

Maps reveal how long it took to travel around the world in 1914 vs 2016

By October 20, 2018 No Comments

Shane – I found these maps showing the travel time from London to different parts of the world during 1914 and 2016. I think it is fascinating how long it took a century ago to get to many places. Can you imagine? What a time we live in that you can reach anywhere on the globe within two days.

This blog was originally found at DailyMail.com

What a difference a century makes! Maps reveal how long it took to travel around the world in 1914 – compared to 2016

by STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

In 1914, it took five to 10 days to travel from London to New York and today the journey takes just eight hours.

A few months ago, the internet was buzzing about a the map that showed how long it took travelers to get from London to anywhere else in the world 100 years ago.

Now there’s a new map that’s based on travel for 2016 and it’s safe to say we’ve come a long way from the steamboats and railroads.

A few months ago, the internet was buzzing about a the map that showed how long it took 100 years ago for travelers to get from London to anywhere else in the world. Now there's a new map that's based on travel for 2016 and it's safe to say we've come a long way from the steamboats and railroads

Rome2rio created the present day map by bringing together data about 750,000 travel routes from 4,800 operators in 144 countries, according to Gizmodo.

Both maps are colourfully grouped into different sections of the world by their distance from London, distinguished by how many days it would take to get there.

And they use lines, called isochrones, which join all the points accessible within the same amount of time from London, according to Intelligent Life.

These isochrones divide them into six colour-coded time groups: dark pink, light pink, beige, light green, light blue and teal.

The major difference between to the two colourful maps is, the 2016 measures distance by hours and the 1914 map is measured by days. 

The areas closest to London are shaded pink, which means those locations take the shortest travel time and the colors work their way out to teal areas, which are the farthest away.

At the time the 1914 map was published, World War I was just beginning and H. H. Asquith was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and George V reigned as king.

Britain also declared war on Germany, and if troops had been sent out it would’ve taken them at least five days to reach the enemy.

Pictured is the map from 1914. Rome2rio created the present day map by bringing together data about 750,000 travel routes from 4,800 operators in 144 countries. Both maps are colorfully grouped into different sections of the world by their distance from London, distinguished by how many days it would take to get there

Troops from New Zealand and Australia also traveled for several days in order to invade and occupy Samoa and German New Guinea.

If travelers from the United Kingdom wanted to make a trip to Australia, a former British colony, in 1914, the journey would take at least a month or more than 40 days.

Reaching places like India proved to be a less difficult task, with it taking approximately ten to 20 days for a Londoner to reach the British-led colony.

Although trains were to thank for cutting down the long hours of travel, airplanes made an even bigger dent in the amount of time it took to get from Point A to Point B. In 1914, a trip to Asia took 40 days, but now, thanks to the Wright Brother’s, it takes less than a day to complete the journey

The map was first published by John G Bartholomew in An Atlas of Economic Geography, and shows how travel was changing due to the presence of railways.

Regions with large areas of continuous landmass, like the United States, show through colour that great distance could be traveled relatively quickly.

By the time of the map’s creation, railways in the United States and Europe had been integrated into society, allowing passengers to travel on land with much greater ease.

Although trains were to thank for cutting down the long hours of travel, airplanes made an even bigger dent in the amount of time it took to get from Point A to Point B.

In 1914, a trip to Asia took 40 days, but now, thanks to the Wright brother’s, it takes less than a day to complete the journey.

Even though planes and trains have transformed traveling to quick and simple journeys, there are some areas that are still far out of reach for those leaving from London.

Greenland, parts of Africa and Australia still take days to reach.

Dark pink shows the locations a 1914 traveler could get to most quickly, while the teal shows the areas which would take the longest. A traveler could get as far east as Perm, Russia in just five days, while a trip to Africa of a similar distance could take over 40 days

But after comparing Rome2rio’s map to the one published by the Economist last year, we can agree life is much easier.

The first map suggests it would take 10 to 20 days to reach the west coast of the US, the 2016 map shows the trip can be done in less than 12 hours.

And the journey to Yakutsk, in Russia use to be a brutally 40 day long journey, but now you can get there in about three quarters of a day. 

 

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: