Answer:
<h2>Telegraph</h2>
Explanation:
Telegraph is the answer I would suggest, as that was the first invention that greatly accelerated the speed of communication. Following that came the telephone, and then after that, cell phones and the Internet. All of these communication tools have accelerated the rate and amount of global communication. But the first step in that direction was the telegraph.
The telegraph was developed in the first part of the 19th century by Samuel Morse and other inventors. Morse also developed a code (which has been named after him) for communicating messages via short and long electronic signals over telegraph wires. Morse sent his first telegraph message in 1844. By 1866 telegraph lines had been laid across the Atlantic Ocean for communication between the USA and Europe.
As summarized by the <em>History Channel, "</em>The telegraph revolutionized long-distance communication. ... Although the telegraph had fallen out of widespread use by the start of the 21st century, replaced by the telephone, fax machine and Internet, it laid the groundwork for the communications revolution that led to those later innovations."
