Transportation: A Brief Overview

By Maggie Garrett

The different means of transportation have evolved over the years allowing people to travel, send goods from one place to another, communicate, send packages, any much more. There are numerous ways people and materialistic items can travel from one destination to another. The four categories for the evolution of European transportation in consideration are the significance of the steam engine, locomotives, automobiles, and the water vessels.

“James Watt, the man who would eventually be called the father of the steam engine, greatly improved the efficiency of the stationary engine”. He was known greatly for patenting an engine that used high pressure steam on both sides of the engine. In return, this doubled the original output (Swischer, 2012).

The steam engine has been widely recognized for transporting large quantities of goods to different areas around the globe. More information on the steam engine can be found on Significance of the Steam Engine put together by Elyse Salisz2876639695_098a4a3098_o

Model of a Steam Engine
by D Guisinger, used under

The steam engine was especially significant in the development of locomotive transportation.  Trains were commonly used in Revolutionary Europe to transport people and goods long distance across land. More on the development of trains can be found of the page titled Locomotives put together by Christian Willy.

steam engine
Steam Locomotive of the Vitznau Rigi Bahn, drive detail
by Georg Holderied, used under CC BY-NC-SA

“Starting in the late 1700s, European Engineers started tinkering with motor powered vehicles. Steam, combustion and electrical motors had all been attempted by the late 1800s. At first the electrical car was the most popular. The battery did not exist though, which meant that the car would operate at a low speed and not travel far distances. The steam powered automobile lasted until the 1920s” (Brancheau)

It is amazing the progress automobiles have made throughout the years, from when they were first introduced until now. Not only has the speed increased, but the travel distance has also increased. Cars in the modern sense are used for much more than necessity driving. Automobiles have become a means of long distance transportation, carrying of goods from one place to another, and much more. More information on early automobiles can be found on the page titled Automobiles put together by Samuel Ludlow

John Renner in Albrecht's Halladay, August 1910
John Brenner in Albrecht’s Halladay, August 1910
by William Creswell used under

One of the earliest means of transportation are different water vessels. Some of the earliest well known stories have been involving handmade boats as their transportation. The only way to travel from one land mass to another, before the use of airplanes, was by using ships, boats, or other water vessels. More information on water vessels can by found the page title Water Travel put together by Lanora Osborne

ghs209steamship
The battle of fregate Flora against Turkish steamships near Pitsunda November 11, 1853 by Alexey Bogolyubov, used under used under CC0