Food & agriculture · 1882

Refrigerated shipping

The SS Dunedin carried frozen mutton 98 days from New Zealand to London, still fresh.

Its 1882 voyage proved meat could cross the globe, founding New Zealand's export economy and the global cold chain. Refrigerated ships and rail cars let cities eat food produced on the other side of the world.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 3

Iron screw steamship 1843
Mechanical refrigeration 1834
Newcomen steam engine 1712

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Merchandise exports as a share of world GDP Latest: 24.2 % of GDP (2014) Source: Our World in Data

World trade as a share of GDP since 1500 Latest: 1950-now (PWT): 57.8 % of GDP (2023) Source: Our World in Data