With the telegraph and transatlantic cable connecting cotton growers directly to international buyers and manufacturers, the old merchants' world of the mid-nineteenth century was a quaint relic.

There have been a succession of newer transatlantic cable systems.

The transatlantic cable reduced communication time considerably, allowing a message and a response in the same day.

This was the first transatlantic cable to use optical fibers, a revolution in telecommunications.

It threatens the transatlantic cables that make the internet and international communication possible.