Final answer:
The Chappe semaphore system was a mechanical method of communicating information over long distances in nineteenth-century France, involving a network of towers with pivoting arms. Message relay through this system was much faster than horseback couriers but was later surpassed by electrical telegraph systems using Morse code and undersea cable connections. The semaphore's utility was eclipsed by advancements in telegraphy, telephony, and wireless communication by the turn of the century.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Chappe semaphore system, used in nineteenth-century France, was not electric like the telegraph systems developed later in the nineteenth century by Samuel Morse in the United States. Instead, it was a mechanical system consisting of a network of towers with pivoting arms. These arms were manipulated into various positions according to a code book to represent letters and numbers. Each tower was built within sight of the next so that operators could view the configurations and then replicate them, thus relaying messages across long distances without the need for physical transportation of the message.
Although this system was limited by the need for good visibility and daylight, it represented a significant leap in communications at the time, allowing messages to be conveyed much more swiftly than by couriers on horseback. Once telegraph technology improved and electrical systems like Morse code were introduced, the telegraph rapidly became the preferred method for long-distance communication, due to its ability to work at all times and under most weather conditions.
By the 1850s, America, Britain, and Europe had widespread telegraph networks, connected further by undersea cables, including the successful transatlantic line between Britain and the US completed in 1866. Major advancements in global communications continued with the introduction of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 and the foundational work of Guglielmo Marconi on wireless communication at the turn of the 20th century.