History of Transport

Classic Cars The world today is built on innovations of yesterday. Without the innovation of transportation, society would lack the comfort and convenience of moving from one location to another. Transportation is important because people seldom stay in the same place. Whether it’s working, shopping or vacationing, people must be able to travel as they see fit. Not only is transportation vital for the movement of people, it’s essential in the shipment of goods and materials. Transport holds economic and social importance, whether it’s through job creation, reducing congestion or reducing mobility gaps, transport effects quality of life.


Road Transport

Maritime Transport

  • Marine Navigation: Take an interactive tour of marine navigation in the age of exploration.
  • Submarine: This article defines submarines, describes the types and explains how they work.
  • Naval Warfare: J.B. Calvert gives his insight on naval warfare during the Age of Sail.
  • Maritime History: Use this interactive database to search maritime historical timelines.
  • Satellite Navigation: The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution briefly describes the use of satellites in ocean navigation.
  • Navigating the Ocean: This student lesson has a thorough table of contents exploring maritime navigation.
  • Fifteenth-Century Navigation: A comprehensive unit on the history of oceanography navigation of the 15th century.

Rail Transport

  • Trolly Wagonways : Franklin Institute presents Catherine Gibbon’s achievements in street railway construction.
  • Engineering Tramways: An in-depth compilation of the engineering of railways over canals.
  • Passenger Railroad Travel: Learn about the history of railroad passenger travel.
  • History of Monorails: The Monorails Society is dedicated to bringing awareness of the monorails. This page focuses on monorail history from 1825 to 1964.
  • Personal Rapid Transit: A resource page focused on a mode of transportation used for urban traffic congestion.
  • Pneumatic transportation: A Gallery of the pneumatic transportation system dating back to the 1860’s.
  • Railroad History: Here you’ll find an extensive amount of resources on the history of the railway.

Aviation

  • History of Air Transportation: Choose from 13 different topics that are essential moments in the history of air transportation.
  • Modern Aviation: This resource is partially funded by NASA and has exceptional information on the history and principles of aeronautics.
  • Gravity and Flight: Get inside the head of Robert Hunt to see a glimpse of the future of the fuelless airplane.
  • History of Flight: Explore essays and timelines and research papers on the history of flight.
  • WWI Aviation: Go into a part of history that is an incredible element of aviation.
  • Advanced Technology: An online book on the technological advancements of air transport. The book in is in four PDF files.
  • Golden Age of Aviation: This article will put you in a time period of World War I and World War II. Take a look at a time when air aviation was transformed by incredible feats of courage and skill.

Spaceflight

  • Human Spaceflight: Download the white paper that examines the rationales of human spaceflight.
  • Space Race: Take a tour of the Space Race exhibition of the National Air and Space Museum.
  • History of Space Flight: This is more than an Astronomy syllabus it presents over 27 lectures on the history of space flight.
  • The Race of the 1950's: This teaching and research textbook describes the Space Race of the 50’s.
  • The Beginning: Here you’ll explore the significant events and contributions that make up space exploration.
  • History and Future of Space Flight: A report describing the history and future of space flight technology.
  • Space Travel: An interesting and fun look at space travel in movies and the impact it has n science.