Land & sea · 1872
Around the World in Eighty Days
Fogg stakes £20,000 that new rail and steamship connections can carry him around the world in eighty days. Every missed departure threatens the wager.
2 October, 8:45 p.m.—the wager begins.
Fogg leaves London by rail, crosses the Channel and continues through France and northern Italy. The route reaches Brindisi via the Mont Cenis railway before taking to sea.
AI image generation · historical reconstruction, 2026Verne says
Was eighty days realistic in 1872?
Fogg uses commercial transport already operating in 1872. The wager depends on chaining the newest steamship and railway schedules without missing a connection.
Fact-check
Miss one connection and the wager collapses
Thomas Cook spent 222 days sightseeing around the world in 1872–73. Seventeen years later, Nellie Bly completed a deliberately planned circumnavigation in 72 days 6 hours, proving the network could beat Fogg’s target when the connections held.
The book in pictures
Original plates and later editions show how each generation pictured the same journey.
