History of Transportation

The history of the world is largely the history of movement. We speak of ancient cultures as though they were immobile, often forgetting that the greatest empires were often comprised primarily of displaced peoples. Genghis Khan uprooted entire populations and put them elsewhere in order to encourage homogeneity within his realm. How did he get them from place to place?

In the age of Learjets and bullet trains, the invention of the wheel seems distant and almost inconsequential. Riding horses is a little more immediate (oddly) because people still do that, but unless you're Amish or Mennonite Brethren living in the eastern United States, carts, wagons and buggies are mere images flickering against the faded screen of the past.

Still, the wheel is one of the building blocks of civilization. Things like wagons, trains, and cars would never have been developed without the wheel, and by extension we probably wouldn't have airplanes either. Boats and ships are a slightly different story, but the technology that allowed early civilizations to put to sea is as foundational as that used to make wheels.

Man has always been fascinated with movement of all kinds, not least the modes of conveyance used to get people and things around. It's important for Christians to remember that God's will is ultimately what allows advances in transportation technology, which (rather than ending the discussion) is the best reason to study it in the first place. To that end, we offer a variety of resources covering a variety of vehicles and inventions.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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Admiral David Glasgow Farragut
by Chester G. Hearn
from US Naval Institute Press
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Air Forces of the World
by Sue Butterworth, editor
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All Hands Aloft!
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Amelia Earhart
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American Ship Models and How to Build Them
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Arts of the Sailor
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Barbary Pirates
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Boy Who Sailed Around the World Alone
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Log of Christopher Columbus
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1992 Printing from International Marine / McGraw-Hill
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Long Ships: A Saga of the Viking Age
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Lost at Sea
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Luftwaffe
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Mayflower II
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Mustang at War
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Mutiny of the Bounty
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Mysterious Voyage of Captain Kidd
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Nothing Like It in the World
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Oregon's Iron Dream
by Mary Goodall
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Paddle-Wheel Days in California
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Pathfinders
by David Nevin
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Railroad
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Railroads in the Days of Steam
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Road to Kitty Hawk
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by John Haskell Kemble
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San Francisco Bay
by John Haskell Kemble
1978 Reissue from Bonanza Books
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Seabees of World War II
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Ships Visual Encyclopedia
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Shipwrecks of the Pacific Coast
by James A. Gibbs
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Soldiers of Fortune
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South Sea Shilling
by Eric Swenson
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Spirit of St. Louis
by Charles A. Lindbergh
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Square Sails and Spice Islands
by Laura Long, illustrated by C. B. Falls
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Story of Buffalo Bill
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Tale of a Shipwreck
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Timechart History of Aviation
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Trains
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1989 Reprint from Treasure Press
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We Were There at the Battle of Britain
We Were There #24
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We Were There at the Driving of the Golden Spike
We Were There #31
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by David Shepherd, William K. Plummer
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We Were There at the First Airplane Flight
We Were There #28
by Felix Sutton, illustrated by Lazlo Matulay
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Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
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We Were There at the First Airplane Flight
by Felix Sutton, illustrated by Lazlo Matulay
Reprint from Dover Publications
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We Were There with the Lafayette Escadrille
We Were There #33
by Clayton Knight & Katherine Sturges Knight
from Grosset & Dunlap
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
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Wooden Ships and Iron Men
by Clifford Lindsey Alderman
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Wright Brothers
Landmark #10
by Quentin Reynolds
from Random House
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Wright Brothers
by David McCullough
Reprint from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
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$17.00
Wright Brothers
by David McCullough
First American Condition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
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$15.00 (2 in stock)