168 years agoThe Age of Steam
1859
The Drake Well
A well drilled in Pennsylvania struck oil, launching the modern petroleum industry.
Art style · 1860s black-and-white wet-plate photograph
World population
1.33Bpeople
1/6 of today
Primary energy power
9.6×10¹¹W
1/21 of today
London → New York message
11.9 hours
1.46M times slower than today
Every timeline entry cites its source. Metrics interpolate logarithmically between sourced data points. Forecasts include institutional and community views, and attributed site scenarios; years are not guaranteed realization dates. Illustrations are AI-generated in each era's style.
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