Business Insider Science (BI Science) recently produced this absorbingly animated map which illustrates the global deployment of each and every one of the over 300 undersea cables that power the planet's Internet capabilities.

That's a fiber-optic footprint spanning 550,000 mi -- enough cable to encircle the Earth 22 times. Also, keep in mind that the first transatlantic undersea cable was laid between Ireland and Newfoundland in 1850. The video covers the work of the next 165 years in just a hair over 2 minutes.

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