The Transformation of the World: A Global History of the Nineteenth Century
"The period between the middle of the century and the First World War, just six decades, was a period of unprecedented networking." "In 1838 Friedrich List designed a railway network" for Germany. Before the railway networks were the canals, which were boosted by steam shipping. "A closed  network of canals had already been [...] created in the Netherlands between 1814 and 1848."