Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
ing houses and services for railroad workers and passengers. Similarly, canals,
highways, and airports have had the same economic and social impact on com-
munities. When superhighways were constructed beginning in the 1950s, com-
munities that were bypassed often struggled to grow or even survive.
Use of Animals
Human use of machines for transportation has occurred only during the last two
centuries. Before horses, the railroad, and automobiles, humans delivered inform-
ation person to person; they carried goods on their heads or backs. Eventually,
animals were trained to draw vehicles or carry goods on their backs. According to
Dent (1972), evidence exists that the first animal to be domesticated and used for
transportation was the dog in the Middle Stone Age.
Domestication of large animals probably began in about 7000 BCE in order
to provide a food supply. For much of the history of roads, animals provided the
means of power for travel. The best-known animals used for transportation have
been cattle, donkeys, dogs, goats, horses, mules, camels, elephants, buffaloes,
llamas, reindeer, and yaks; humans also have been employed in transportation.
The horse was originally a pack animal but became a riding animal and was
harnessed to a war chariot used by the aristocracy in Western Asia, Europe, and
North Africa from 2000 BCE to about 500 CE (Dent, 6-7). A horse and rider could
travel about 60 to 80 kilometers per day and carry information. The Persians in the
reign of Cyrus the Great in 550 BCE established post houses and stables along a
route so that tired horses could be exchanged. Teams of horses and riders could
travel as much as 250 kilometers per day. The Romans and Chinese also used this
method for sending messages. A similar messenger system of relays was used at
various times, and a master of posts was appointed in England in 1509.
In 1860 this relay system was employed by the Pony Express, which carried
mail from Missouri to California, the riders traveling about 300 kilometers per day.
Riders changed horses every 10 to 30 kilometers. The Pony Express operated for
only 18 months and was made irrelevant by the transcontinental telegraph.
Roads
Roads have been a vital part of the transportation infrastructure that supported
the information infrastructure. Lay (1992, 5) asserts that the first roadways or path-
ways across the countryside were created by animals migrating to seek water and
salt. Humans in temperate zones were using pathways by about 10,000 BCE. A
growing civilization increased social and economic pressures to construct path-
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