Last modified on Fri 7 May 2021 07.12 EDT
On the day the Guardian was born in Manchester on 5 May 1821, the big story was taking place 4,800 miles away on an island in the south Atlantic.
The first edition of the Manchester Guardian, published on 5 May 1821. Photograph: Guardian News & Media Archive/The Guardian
The fact that it took weeks for news of Napoleon Bonaparte’s death on St Helena to become known shows how communication has sped up down the years. It also shows just how long the Guardian has been around.
This was the world of the first Industrial Revolution, built around steam power and textiles, a time when Manchester businessmen wanted to harness the power of the press to push for the vote. Electric power was a thing of the future. The rich got around on horseback; the poor walked.