Before the advent of steamships, world trade did not follow the shortest route, but where the winds blew. This amazing animation, created by me, uses data from more than 250,000 ship positions (based on ship logs from 1750 to 1855) to visualize how the winds determined global shipping routes. source.

Before the advent of steamships, world trade did not follow the shortest route, but where the winds blew. This amazing animation, created by me, uses data from more than 250,000 ship positions (based on ship logs from 1750 to 1855) to visualize how the winds determined global shipping routes. source.