Land transportation has evolved throughout human history. It started with simple strides, taming wild horses, and the invention of the wheel. History puts it that the initial invention of man-made transportation occurred in Mesopotamia or Asia. This was the time when man invented the wheel at around 4000-3500 BC (Bardou, Jean-Pierre, et al, 1982). The combination of the horse and the wheel made the transportation system simple as it facilitated the exchange of crops. It eventually led to the mass movement of people and goods, and the wheel became advanced means of land transportation.
The use of the wheel eventually led to chariots. Sumerians were the first men to first experience wheel transportation. The chariot had the ability to enhance the speed of movement. The man soon invented a four-wheeled cart that improved efficiency in movement.
There were significant improvements in land transportation as automation development took place through the steam engine. This was the origin of the movement of a large number of people in the 18th century (Bardou et al, 1982). However, the locomotive steam engine was slow and majorities considered it unsafe. The man soon invented locomotive steam engines. They had the power to drag many cars. This was an obvious improvement in land transportation development.
As time progressed, a man advanced the development of the locomotive system. This resulted in improved speed and safe travel than earlier attempts. The period of World War II marked the introduction of a diesel-powered engine. Initially, the man had attempted to power trains through electricity as early as 1895. However, a lack of efficiency made that discovery an unreliable and expensive invention. Soon, the development of the subway led to dependence on electricity as the method of the underground movement.
Some studies suggest that there were attempts to use the steam engine in the East during the period of 800 BC (Bardou et al, 1982). However, a man limited this discovery to personal travel and not a mass movement of people.
The period of 1860 marked a milestone in the development of land transportation. This was the time when Lenoir Jean Etienne of France made an engine powered by gas. Since then, there are advancements in land transport. Automobile discovery remains significant development since the period of the wheel. Automotive is responsible for distance traveling, the rise of suburbs, and mass movements of people and goods at increased speeds (Davies, 1992).
The development of transportation, transportation vehicles, infrastructure, and using new technologies in this sector speed up the development of tourism. If we pay attention to the statistics of the World Tourism Organization, we may see that the tourism dynamics have changed and increased rapidly between 2005 and 2015. In 2010, international tourist arrivals rose to 940 million. This in turn brought the economy $980 billion. This trend can be explained by different factors. But the main important factor here is the rapid development of the transportation sector and the application of technological innovations which enable tourists to reach many destinations.
The evolution of transportation, just like the evolution of humankind, has gone through trials and tribulations as it has evolved through time. It has ebbed and flowed, overcoming challenges to grow to ever-increasing levels of complexity and efficiency. Today, we often take for granted our ability to get from one place to another, nearby or distant. We expect to get there, but don`t often reflect on how, and we suppose, more than we actually know, how we move from one location to another. But throughout history, we have had to slowly but surely, painstakingly evolve our means of transportation to where it is today. Many modes of transport have evolved and many more have gone extinct. The modes of our transportation have developed alongside the expansion of our human understanding and culture. Our greatest demands and challenges have, in turn, initiated our greatest inventive feats that have taken us from where we have come to where we intend to go. Transportation technology has been the key to our most powerful sociological and teleological growth. And as it has done so in the distant past, it will continue to do so into the distant future.