The Changing Face of Transportation
Humans have always been searching for quicker and easier ways to get
around. About 10,000 years ago, we built canoes made from logs of
wood, while on land we domesticated and started riding horses around
4,000 BC. Roughly 500 years later, we invented the wheel, which led to
carts and wagons, and at almost the same time, the Egyptians invented
the saling boat.
Up until the 18th century most people travelled by sailing boat, horse or
stagecoach, but in 1769, there was a major breakthrough when the
Scottish Inventor James Watt invented the steam engine. In 1783, the
French inventor Claude de Jouffroy used this technology to build the
first steamboat, and in 1804 the Englishman Richard Trevithick
constructed the first steam-powered train. Pallways helped carry coal
around Britain and were an important part of the Industrial Revolution.
Another major breakthrough came when Kari Benz built the first working
car in 1885. Then, in 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright bullt the first
aeroplane. These two inventions shaped the 20th century. Over time,
cars and plane travel became cheaper so that by the 70s a lot of
familles owned a car and many were holidaying abroad. Also, the 20th
century saw the first man in space - Yuri Gagarin in 1961 - and the
world was watching when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969.
Nowadays, companies are developing soll-driving cars and we will soon
be able to take trips into space. The fascinating story of transportation
continues and who knows how we'll be gelung around in the future.
1 The first means of transport
people built were
2 The invention of the wheel
allowed us to make
3 The Industrial Revolution
relied on the invention of
4 Throughout the 20th century
travel by car and plane
5 in the future, people will be
able to travel