History of transportation

As civilizations developed, the need for transport continued to grow. Any trading centre close to water built a harbour and began to send heavy goods to others centres by boat or any others means of water transport. At the same time, vehicles with wheels also became important but due to the lack of proper strong road, right up to the 19th century, water transport in form of ships and barges developed more quickly than land transport, and most of the world’s trade went by sea.

The history had shown that the first travelers carried or dragged their belongings. Then they trained animals to carry loads and drag sleds. Around 3500B.C, the Sumerians began to use wheeled carts. From that time and for hundreds of years, people traveled in various types of carriages pulled by animals. However, for many years there were no roads. Since the invention of the motor car, a vast network of road and motorways has run across the globe.

Road quickly became the most useful form of transportation. Anyone with a motor vehicle could travel almost anywhere, for business or pleasure. At first, few people could afford a car of their own. Beginning 1920’s, cheap motor cars began to be mass-produced and heavy lorries became much more efficient. About 1950, road transportation had taken a great deal of business away from the railways. In addition, by this time, air transport, with the development of bigger planes and jet engines, was attracting passengers away from ocean-going liners, which had become too expensive to run.