Transportation Over Time

Over the past one hundred years, the world has changed tremendously.  World literacy rates have increased, Coca- Cola has reached its one-hundredth year in the business industry, and technology is doing the unimaginable.  Perhaps one of the most dramatic development in the past century is the increase in transportation systems. 

The first form of transport was Shanks pony. 

You haven’t heard that term before?  It means one’s feet or legs, regarded as a means of transport.  Anyways, the first major transportation system was by foot.  As technology advanced, animals were domesticated and then used to aid in transported larger loads across larger scale terrain, making trade more optimal.

Moving forward, transportation further increased due to the invention of the wheel in 3,500 BCE. At first these wheels were made of solid pieces of wood; however. After 2,000 BCE they were made to include spokes.  These slow, yet impacting, advancements continued, leading up to the much larger growth spurt in the twentieth century.

While some newer transportation systems arrived prior to the last century, the greatest changes are sandwiched in the twentieth century.  By 1910, we see roads, cars, and bus lines.  Then, the 1920’s brought us passenger air flight, and while the comfort level is nothing compared to the luxury even the lowest airline has to offer, it was a means to transport both nationally and international at a faster speed than offered before.  To give you some perspective, in 1918, it would have taken five days to get from London, England to New York City, New York, and it would take more than three months to travel from London, England to Sydney, Australia.  Now, a nonstop flight gets you from London to New York in as little as eight hours, and from London to Australia in about a day, and that is including a single stop.

Because the variety and the efficiency of transportation have gone up exponentially, the uses for it have as well.  With the integration of new transportation systems into the culture, people can explore parts of the world which would otherwise be impossible to reach by foot.  This expands the possibility to witness and delve deeper into diverse cultures, offering our species a chance to understand those from different parts of the world.