Transport & space · 1807

Steamboat

Fulton's steamboat runs up the Hudson against the current on a regular schedule.

Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat covered 240 km from New York to Albany in 32 hours in 1807, launching the first commercially successful steamboat service. Steam freed river transport from wind and current. Steamboats opened the Mississippi basin and led to ocean-going steamships.

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 1

Watt steam engine 1776

What it led to 1

Screw propeller 1839

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Transatlantic crossing time Latest: 3.5 hours (1976) Source: Wikipedia: Transatlantic crossing, duration list; Geography of Transport Systems: liner transatlantic crossing times

Blue Riband: fastest westbound Atlantic liner Latest: 34.5 knots (1952) Source: Wikipedia: Blue Riband, westbound record breakers; USNI Proceedings, October 1933: A New Queen of the Seas

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