Porters and Pack Animals

The most ancient peoples were probably wanderers. They did not live in settled homes because they did not know how to till the soil. As they moved from place to place they had to carry their goods themselves. The porters were usually the women, probably because the men beat off attacks by wild beasts or enemies. Even now, to carry the household goods is the job of women in backward wandering tribes.

The next step was the use of pack animals for carrying goods. The kind of animal varied in different places, but the general idea was the same. The dog, although too small to carry much, was probably one of the first transport animals used because it is so easily trained. Dogs are still drag sledges in the Arctic because of their light weight, animal carried the bundles or baskets on their backs.

The next advance in land transport came with the invention of the wheel. The wheel at once led to the development of two-wheeled carts and four-wheeled wagons and carriages, but before these could be used for carrying goods over long distances, a system of roads was necessary. These roads had to be wide enough to take a cart and paved, for unless their surface was paved the wheels sank in and the cart stuck. In Britain, and also over much Europe, the Romans made the first long-distance paved roads, chiefly for troops marching without delay from place to place. The roads made it possible to use wheeled traffic. However, when the Roman Empire collapsed, the roads gradually got into a very bad state.

There were two problems to be solved - first, how to make good roads, and, second, to decide who was to pay for them. The Britain solved these problems in the 18th century.

Then it became possible to travel rather comfortably by coaches. In cities like London rich people had their own carriages, while poor people went on horseback or walked. Then carriages appeared that could be hired for short distances. They correspond to the modem taxis. The word is short for taxi cab which in turn comes from the words taximeter and cabriolet. A cabriolet is a light two-wheeled carriage introduced from France in the 19th century. The taximeter is a mechanical device connected with the wheels which, by measuring the distance travelled, shows the fare due at any moment. It is also controlled by a clock so that waiting time too is charged for.