History Quiz: Transport

The vehicle, built by F.R. Simms, was a quadricycle with a machine gun and an iron shield mounted above the front wheels.

The Hong Gou, believed to have been constructed in the 6th century BC, connected the Yellow River to the Si and Bian rivers; later, in the 5th century BC, the Han Gou was built by the State of Wu, connecting the Yangtze to the Huai river. Canals built in the 7th century AD by the Sui dynasty linked these two older canals together to form the Grand Canal.

The ships, one 70 metres and the other 73 metres in length, were built at Lake Nemi in the 1st century and were large enough to house buildings on their decks.

The road system was carefully planned and constructed, and included paved sections, stairways, bridges, retaining walls and water drainage systems. Some sections were built by earlier cultures.

Out of these animals, the donkey was the first to be domesticated, in around 5000 BC in Egypt. The dromedary was domesticated either in the Arabian Peninsula or in modern Somalia around 4000 BC, while the horse was first domesticated in Central Asia before 3500 BC. Yaks were first domesticated in around 2500 BC in Tibet or Nepal.

The Junkers J 1, created by German company Junkers during WWI, was the first aircraft to be made entirely out of metal. The first submarine to be propelled by mechanical power, called the Plongeur, was designed by French Navy vice-admiral Siméon Bourgeois and built by 1st class engineer Charles Brun. Submarines had been built and used before this, but they powered by manual means, such as using oars. The Montgolfier brothers were the first to create and travel in a hot air balloon. Earlier, in 1705 in Germany, French inventor Denis Papin constructed a ship with a steam engine mechanically linked to paddles. He took the boat down the river Fulda to Münden, where it was destroyed by a guild of boatmen who had a legal monopoly on traffic on the river. The boat was not only the first steam-powered boat, but also the first steam-powered vehicle.

The Grand Trunk Road linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. Ports that were part of the incense trade route were located in the Levant, Northeastern Africa, Arabia and India. The Maritime Silk Road connected China, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian peninsula, Somalia, Egypt and Europe. Via Maris (Latin for "way of the sea") is one name given to an ancient trade route from the early Bronze Age, which linked Egypt to empires in Syria, Anatolia and Mesopotamia.

Opened in 1831, the Albany and Schenectady Railroad allowed people travelling along the Erie Canal to bypass a lengthy part of the route. Earlier railways in the US either made use of gravity or horses.

The most widely accepted theory as to who invented the rickshaw states that it was invented in 1869 by Izumi Yosuke. The word rickshaw originates from the Japanese word jinrikisha, which literally means "human-powered vehicle".

The trackway, called the Diolkos, was a rudimentary form of railway. It operated from c. 600 BC until the middle of the 1st century AD, and was primarily used to move merchant ships in times of peace or to move naval ships in times of war. The Diolkos allowed sailors to avoid the lengthy and dangerous voyage around the Peleponnese peninsula.

Many medieval settlements such as Kilwa and Malindi existed along the Swahili coast. These settlements were connected to various other cities in Africa and Asia via trade routes. Malindi, one of the settlements, was visited by the Ming treasure fleet commanded by Zheng He in 1414. The ruler of Malindi sent a personal envoy to sail with the fleet as it made its way back to China; they travelled in a dhow, and took a giraffe with them as a present for the Yongle Emperor.

The speed was achieved by Australian motorboat racer Ken Warby in a wooden speed boat called Spirit of Australia.

Messages travelled around the empire via mounted couriers of the Angarium, an institution of royal mounted couriers. Darius the Great built the road partially using older roads, so as to help the couriers travel faster. The messengers were expected to be able to travel from one end of the road (at Susa) to the other (at Sardis) in nine days.

The canal began construction in 1881 under the French, who were later forced to abandon the project. A treaty (the Hay–Herrán Treaty) was signed in 1903, which would have granted the United States a lease from Colombia (which controlled Panama) on the land proposed for the canal. However, the Senate of Colombia did not ratify the treaty, so the US supported Panamanian rebels who wanted independence instead. After Panama gained its independence, another treaty was signed (the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty), which gave rights to the United States to build and indefinitely administer the Panama Canal Zone and its defences (the treaty was condemned by many Panamanians). Construction of the canal resumed in 1904, and enough of it had been completed by 1914 for it to open.

Clinker built, or lapstrake, means that the edges of the hull planks overlap each other. This construction method allowed Viking longships to be light yet strong, and the specific form of clinker built method used by the Vikings allowed their longships to twist and flex.