The concept of wiring two continents together is far older than most people might know. Telegraphers on both sides of the ocean took up a Shakespearean line from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” where Puck says, “I’ll put a girdle `round the earth in forty minutes.”
The story really began in 1795 when a Spaniard named Salva suggested the idea of underwater telegraphic communication. But nothing significant happened until 1850 when a single wire cable manufactured by the Gutta Percha Company was laid between England and France. International telecommunications had started.
Togo Parties Form Coalition
By Johnson Eniku
Published: June 12, 2010
Togo’s main opposition party will join a coalition government for the first time, according to one of its veteran leaders. Gilchrist Olympio announced on Thursday that the Union of Forces for Change (UFC) will participate in the country’s next government with the ruling party, the Togolese People’s Rally, under a power-sharing agreement.