The History of Time Zones

Time zones are a relatively recent invention that came about with the advent of rail travel and the need to coordinate train schedules across vast distances.

The Birth of Time Zones

Before the late nineteenth century, each city kept its own local time based on the position of the sun. This wasn't a problem when it took days or weeks to travel between cities, but it became increasingly problematic with the rise of rail travel.

Sir Sandford Fleming's Proposal

In 1878, Canadian railway engineer Sir Sandford Fleming proposed a worldwide system of time zones that would simplify the keeping of time across the globe. His system divided the world into 24 time zones, each 15 degrees of longitude wide.