Globalisation involves widening and deepening global connections, interdependence and flows
(commodities, capital, information, migrants and tourists). Globalisation is the process of increasing
interconnectivity between countries.
Developments in transport in the 1850s through railways, the telegraph and steam ships which
increased the speed and cargo capacity dramatically, accelerated in the 20th century with jet aircraft
which reduced travel time for passengers to hours, rather than days, replacing steam ship, and
containerisation which Reduced transport costs for goods and Dramatically sped up goods trade and
reduced costs, making consumer goods cheaper - contributing to a 'shrinking world'. Recent
developments such as the HS2 which are 250 mph trains and Airbus A380 have resulted in more
accessible, easier and faster communications across the globe which can now be done in the fraction
of time it once would have taken.
The 21st Century is dominated by rapid development in ICT and mobile communications, (mobile
phones, internet, social networking, economic banking, fibre optics), lowering communication costs
and contributing to space-time compression. Internet is the most important communication
development, followed by telephones as they have connected everyone and place in the world
together and drastically reduced communication times down to just milliseconds. Through the
internet large amounts of data can be transferred from one place to another in the matter of
seconds. Social networks such as Skype allow people to communicate instantly and the development
of social media such as Facebook in 2006, and WhatsApp in 2010 has enabled much cheaper
communication between friends and family than landline telephone. This has led to space-time
compression, where the cost of communicating over distance has fallen rapidly, so people can
communicate regardless of distance. Land-based and sub-sea fibre optic cables in the 2000s
increased the speed and volume of data transmission through cyberspace, and allow instant, global
communications and the rise of mobile phones means they can be used for economic banking,
revolutionising life for individuals and businesses.
The shrinking world is the term used to explain how the physical distance between places remains
unchanged, but new technologies reduce the time taken to transport goods/people/communicate
information. In the 1500s, transport was by horse drawn coaches and sailing ships, and international
communications were almost impossible. In the 1850s, Transport also included the use of steam
trains and ships and international communications where possible via ships however took a very
long time. In the 1950s, Propeller aircraft was introduced and telephone communications were
possible which decreased the length of communication time there once was in the past. Today,
there are now large passenger aircraft, the internet and mobile phones which have drastically
reduce the length of time of communications that would have potentially taken weeks in the past to
only a matter of seconds, therefore drastically ‘shrinking the world’.
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