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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73 Items found Print
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All About Aviation
All About Books #51
by Robert D. Loomis
from Random House
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in All About Books (Location: VIN-ALL)
All About Sailing the Seven Seas
All About Books #40
by Ruth Brindze
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Barbary Pirates
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by C. S. Forester
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in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813
by James P. Barry
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Boy Who Sailed Around the World Alone
from Golden Press
for 4th-10th grade
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
Building of the First Transcontinental Railroad
Landmark #9
by Adele Nathan, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
from Random House
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in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Building of the First Transcontinental Railroad
Spencer Press Landmark #9 (RH#9)
by Adele Nathan
from Spencer Press
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in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Captain Cook Explores the South Seas
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by Armstrong Sperry
from Random House
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in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Captain Edward L. Beach: Around the World Under Water
by Beril Becker
from Kingston House
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in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Charles A. Lindbergh
by James Cross Giblin
from Clarion Books
Biography for 5th-8th grade
1998 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
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Charles Lindbergh
A Discovery Book
by David R. Collins
from Garrard Publishing Company
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Clipper Ship Days
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Commodore Perry in Japan
by Robert Reynolds
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Drake: The Man They Called a Pirate
by Jean Lee Latham
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Early Days of Automobiles
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Ferdinand Magellan
World Landmark #31
by Seymour Gates Pond
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First Ships Around the World
from Lerner Publishing Group
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Flight: A Panorama of Aviation
by Melvin B. Zisfein; illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker
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Flying Aces of World War I
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by Gene Gurney
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Footprints of the Dragon
Land of the Free Series
by Vanya Oakes, illustrated by Tyrus Wong
1st edition from John C. Winston
Historical fiction for 6th-10th grade
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Getting There
by Suzanne Hilton
from Westminster Press
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in Things That Go (Location: SCI-TTGO)
$8.50 (1 in stock)
Golden Age of Railroads
Landmark #93
by Stewart H. Holbrook
from Random House
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Great Railroad Race
Dear America
by Kristiana Gregory
from Scholastic Inc.
Fictional historical journal for 3rd-6th grade
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Great Trains of All Time
by Freeman Hubbard; illustrated by Herb Mott
from Grosset & Dunlap
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Ideas That Changed the World: Transportation
by Philip Wilkinson and Michael Pollard, Illustrated by Robert Ingpen
from Chelsea House Publishing
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Indestructible Commodore Matthew Perry
by Arthur Orrmont
from Julian Messner
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Ironclads of the Civil War
by Frank R. Donovan
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
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Lindbergh
Classic Starts
by Torben Kuhlmann, Translated by David Henry Wilson
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Lindbergh Alone
by Brendan Gill
from Harcourt, Brace & World
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in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Men-of-War
Seafarers
by David Howarth
1st edition from Time-Life Books
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Midway: Battle for the Pacific
Landmark #119
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from Random House
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Monitor and the Merrimac
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by Fletcher Pratt
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Mysterious Voyage of Captain Kidd
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by A.B.C. Whipple
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Mysterious Voyage of Captain Kidd
Landmark #122
by A.B.C. Whipple
from Purple House Press
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Nelson and the Age of Fighting Sail
by Oliver Warner
from Harper & Row
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Old Ironsides: The Fighting Constitution
Landmark #51
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Oregon's Iron Dream
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Pirates
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Railroads in the Days of Steam
by Albert L McCready
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Red Baron
by Richard A. Boning, illustrated by Harry Schaare
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Sea Clocks: The Story of Longitude
by Louise Borden
1st edition from Margaret K. McElderry Books
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Sea Disasters
by Walter R. Brown & Norman D. Anderson
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Seabees of World War II
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by Edmund Castillo
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Seafaring America
by Alexander Laing
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Ships and Boats
by Chris Oxlade
from Shooting Star Press
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by Mary Elting; illustrated by Manning De V. Lee
from Harvey House, Inc., Publishers
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Ships Visual Encyclopedia
by David Ross
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Spanish Armada
by Jay Williams
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Spanish Armada
by C. Hodges
from Coward McCann
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Story of Amelia Earhart
Signature Books #33
by Adele de Leeuw, illustrated by Harry Beckhoff
from Grosset & Dunlap
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Story of Buffalo Bill
Signature Books #1
by Edmund Collier, illustrated by Nicholas Eggenhofer
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Story of Flight
by Mary Lee Settle
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Story of Henry Ford & the Automobile
Cornerstones of Freedom
by Zachary Kent
from Children's Press
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Story of Old Ironsides
by Norman Richards, illustrated by Tom Dunnington
from Children's Press
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Story of Ships
by Frank O. Braynard, paintings by Fouille
from Grosset & Dunlap
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Story of Stephen Decatur
Grosset & Dunlap Signature #29
by Iris Vinton, illustrated by Graham Kaye
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 3rd-8th grade
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Story of Submarines
Landmark #102
by George Weller
from Random House
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Story of the Clipper Ships
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by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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Story of the Golden Spike
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Stein Conrad
from Children's Press
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Story of The Lafayette Escadrille
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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Story of the Spirit of St. Louis
Cornerstones of Freedom
by R. Conrad Stein
from Children's Press
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Take Command, Captain Farragut!
by Peter Roop, Connie Roop
1st edition
for 3rd-6th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
Timechart History of Aviation
from Lowe & B. Hould Publishers
for 6th-Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
To Fly
by Wendie C. Old, illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker
from Clarion Books
for 4th-6th grade
2003 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$17.99
Trail Blazer of the Seas
by Jean Lee Latham
from Houghton Mifflin
for 5th-8th grade
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Trains
by John R. Day, illustrated by David A. Warner & Nigel W. Hearn
1989 Reprint from Treasure Press
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
We Were There at the Battle of Britain
We Were There #24
by Clayton Knight & Katherine Sturges Knight
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We Were There at the Driving of the Golden Spike
We Were There #31
by David Shepherd, illustrated by William K. Plummer
from Grosset & Dunlap
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in We Were There Series (Location: VIN-HIS)
We Were There at the First Airplane Flight
We Were There #28
by Felix Sutton, illustrated by Lazlo Matulay
from Grosset & Dunlap
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in We Were There Series (Location: VIN-HIS)
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
in We Were There Series (Location: VIN-HIS)
Wings of Mystery
by Dale M. Titler
for 4th-8th grade
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
Wright Brothers
Landmark #10
by Quentin Reynolds
from Random House
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in American Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAND)
Year of the Flying Machine, 1903
by Genevieve Foster
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 3rd-8th grade
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