Christopher Columbus continued the spirit of exploration in a series of voyages to the America’s from 1492 to 1503 (Columbus, Christopher, P. 1). Though the first time was on accident they continued going in efforts to bring back riches to Europe and of course would inspire other Europeans to go. For the next couple hundred years, the main methods of transportation would pretty much remain the same things that had existed for thousands of years at this point such as horses, boats, and carriages. It wouldn’t be till the 1800s during the Industrial revolution that methods of transportation would significantly change forever.
One significant concept would emerge in the year 1776 in the form of a submarine which was used in an attempt to sink a British ship but failed (Will, Sandra, P. 29). During the 1800’s with the rise of the Industrial Revolution many important things began to emerge such as the Railroads and the Train. The Train was invented in 1804, but would take till about the 1830 before the train started to have some resemblance to what we know to be a train (Stover, John F, P. 10).
By the 1840’s different railroads had been constructed in between many of nation’s biggest Northern cities such as Washington and New York, but the idea was even catching on in the South. In fact in 1830 for the first time a locomotive train was sold for profit in Charleston, South Carolina (Stover, John F, P. 13).
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Like anything invented to transport a large amount of Human beings, Trains eventually became used for a more sinister purpose and that purpose was for war. By the time of the Civil war in the 1860’s, trains were being used to move large amounts of union troops to the front lines (Delmar, Pete, P. 6). The Simple days of troops marching on foot for hundreds of miles to the battle would be long over with. It would be better this way for the simple fact that now soldiers didn’t have to wear themselves out simply trying to get to the battle let alone fighting it. The high ranking officers rode horses into the battle just as things have pretty much always been since ancient times.
Some decades before the Civil War, in the nation of Germany the beginnings of another mode of transportation were coming together. The beginnings of what we know now as the Bicycle was invented by Baron Karl de Drais in 1817 and though much closer than anything that had come before it; it did not have breaks. He named his machine the draisienne (Petrie, Kristin, P. 9). The Bicycle went through many different phases throughout the coming decades with different inventors. The strangest for sure to the modern eye would have to be Aerial which came onto the scene in 1871 and what made this Bicycle so strange was its extremely large front wheel and tiny back wheel (Petrie, Kristin, P. 10).
Bicycles, Trains, and all other forms of transportation would continue to improve over time, but by the time of the late 19th century yet another form of transportation would emerge onto the scene from out of Germany. In 1878 Karl Benz had created an Engine and was working to create a cover around the invention so it could be something you could ride in (Bailey, Diane, P. 6). By 1885 he would have a working prototype and within the next couple decades the automobile would increase in quality tremendously. In 1889 Benz came out with a new model with a foldable roof (Bailey, Diane, P. 12). By the early 1900’s we would see the beginnings of what we know to be the modern Car.
In 1908 An American named Henry Ford made his mark on the Automobile industry with the Model T, which became the vehicular standard for about twenty years (Bailey, Diane, P. 17). In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s the automobile were for the most part used by the wealthy and poorer people were less likely to be seen driving. There was a shift in the demand for automobiles in the mid 1920’s as they became mass produced and less expensive a lot more people were purchasing cars. By the 1950’s most families in the United States had at least one car. Automobiles would not be the only revolutionary invention of the 20th century.
Around the same time as Henry Ford was working on his Model T; The Engine would be used for a whole other purpose. The First Air-Plane was successfully flown by two brothers close to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The Wright brothers were responsible for a technological innovation so impressive it would seem impossible to a person of that Era. To think that a man could fly in the sky among the birds was truly revolutionary and the Wright Brothers will forever be remembered by history for this remarkable turning point in the history of mankind.
It is not enough though to simply state that the wright brothers created the Airplane without going into a bit of the process of how they did this. The Wright Brothers experimented with Kites then later on with gliders that they would build themselves. “Most people leaned their bodies to steer gliders” (Davis, Lynn, P. 13) whereas the Wright Brothers wanted to achieve this using the wings. They also built a light engine for their aircraft and added propellers to it as well.
It could be argued that the achievement of flight was singlehandedly the most innovative achievement for Human beings up until that point in history. Within just a mere decade of the Airplanes invention it would be seen flying in Combat over Europe in the First World War. Though early planes were wobbly and not very reliable they had a significant effect on the battlefield and the Airplane would continue to advance. By the time of the Second World War planes had become way safer and more reliable to work with.
Just when perhaps people were starting to think that perhaps there was nowhere left for Human beings to explore; Human beings would go to space. In 1962 President John F. Kennedy announced plans for a manned mission to the moon. It was one of the most ambitious scientific projects to ever be undertaken. Kennedy did not live to see his plans fulfilled, but in 1969 the plan would finally come to together and Neil Armstrong would be the first man to ever step foot on to the surface of another world. “In total, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin only spent 19 hours on the moon’s surface” (Chione, Jones, P. 1).
Humanity has successfully achieved so many different forms of transportation in the last hundred years alone it’s hard to imagine just how people will be getting around in a thousand years. Transportation is a constantly evolving thing and somewhere right now some brilliant mind is coming up with the next revolutionary form of transformation that will change the world as so many have done before them.
