Editing Optical telegraph (section)

====Spain====
In Spain, the engineer [[Agustín de Betancourt]] developed his own system which was adopted by that state; in 1798 he received a Royal Appointment,<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-04-14|title=Agustín de Betancourt, uno de los ingenieros más prestigiosos de Europa|url=https://museopostalytelegrafico.es/agustin-de-betancourt/|access-date=2020-10-18|website=Museo Postal y Telegráfico|language=es}}</ref> and the first stretch of line connecting [[Madrid]] and [[Aranjuez]] was in operation as of August 1800.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2002-02-04|title=Nostalgia del telégrafo óptico|language=es|work=El País|url=https://elpais.com/diario/2002/02/05/madrid/1012911883_850215.html|access-date=2020-10-18|issn=1134-6582}}</ref> Spain was spanned by an extensive semaphore telegraph network in the 1840s and 1850s.<ref name="Roig">{{cite book |last1=Roig |first1=Sebastián Olivé |title=Historia de la telegrafía óptica en España |date=1990 |publisher=MINISTERIO DE TRANSPORTE, TURISMO Y COMUNICACIONES |location=Madrid |url=http://forohistorico.coit.es/index.php/biblioteca/libros-electronicos/item/historia-de-la-telegrafia-optica-en-espana |access-date=10 January 2019}}</ref> The three main semaphore lines radiated from [[Madrid]].<ref name="Roig" /><ref name="Telegrafos2014">{{cite book |last1=Fundación Telefónica |title=Telégrafos. Un relato de su travesía centenaria |date=2014 |publisher=Grupo Planeta Spain |isbn=978-8408129653 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANkcAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1843 |access-date=10 January 2019}}</ref> The first ran north to [[Irun]] on the Atlantic coast at the French border. The second ran east to the Mediterranean, then north along the coast through [[Barcelona]] to the French border. The third ran south to [[Cadiz]] on the Atlantic coast. These lines served many other Spanish cities, including: [[Aranjuez]], [[Badajoz]], [[Burgos]], [[Castellón de la Plana|Castellon]], [[Ciudad Real]], [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]], [[Cuenca, Spain|Cuenca]], [[Gerona, Spain|Gerona]], [[Pamplona]], [[San Sebastian]], [[Seville]], [[Tarancon]], [[Taragona]], [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], [[Valladolid]], [[Valencia]], [[Vitoria-Gasteiz|Vitoria]] and [[Zaragoza]].<ref name="Telegrafos2014" />

The rugged topography of the Iberian peninsula that facilitated the design of semaphore lines conveying information from hilltop to hilltop, made it difficult to implement wire telegraph lines when that technology was introduced in the mid 19th century. The Madrid-Cadiz line was the first to be dismantled in 1855, but other segments of the optical system continued to function until the end of the [[Carlist Wars]] in 1876.<ref>Aguilar Pérez, Antonio; y Martínez Lorente, Gaspar, La telegrafía óptica en Cataluña, Scripta Nova, revista electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales.Vol. VII, núm. 137, 15 de marzo de 2003. Universidad de Barcelona. ISSN 1138-9788.</ref>