Today we take cars, trains, airplanes and power boats for granted. But we haven't always had them.

     People have lived on earth for millions of years. But until a few hundred years ago, there weren't that many ways to get around ... besides walking!

     One of the most important inventions was the wheel. The wheel made it possible to move things by rolling, instead of carrying them or dragging them on the ground. The people of Mesopotamia first used wheels between 3500 and 3000 B.C..

     Let's say you had to move a kid across the playground. Would you rather drag the kid on a sweater, or push the kid on a cart? The cart's rolling wheels reduce friction.   >>

     Another important invention was the boat. Before the boat, people didn't really have any way of getting across big bodies of water, like lakes and oceans. Do you think Christopher Columbus would have come to America if he'd had to swim?

     The first boats were just rafts. People made them by laying tree trunks or branches side by side and tying them together. Later on they covered the bottoms of the rafts with animal skins to try to keep the water out.   >>

     Around five thousand years ago, the Egyptians made the first sailboats. The sails catch the wind and use wind power to make the boat go. If there wasn't enough wind, the Egyptians had to paddle.

     While the Egyptians made the first sailboats, some other people had found another way of getting around:

     They could ride horses!

     The horses traveled a lot farther after the invention of horseshoes. Horseshoes are metal shoes nailed to the bottom of a horse's foot.

     If you had to go up a steep, rocky hillside, could you climb it better barefoot or wearing shoes? Well, so could a horse!   >>

     People built roads to ride their horses and roll their carts on. The Chinese had roads with speed limits three thousands years ago. Officials stood on the roads to decide who went first at crossings.

     In Rome, writers complained about traffic jams thousands of years ago.

     No wonder; the Romans built fifty thousand miles of roads!

     But horses, carts and sailboats didn't let people travel nearly as quickly as we can today.

     People lived close to their jobs, because they could only get to work by walking or riding a horse.

     Then, in 1804, an inventor named Richard Trevithick made something very important.

Next : Chapter One Quiz
Or : Return to Cover