*** economic sectors communications transport trade








Economic Sectors: Communications, Transport, and Trade

Western Union
Figure 1.--Here we eee a crowd at a Western Union office in a small town somewhere in the United States. Western Unionoffices were often located at or near railroad stations. Telegraphs were the primary way to deliver important messages quickly until after World War II. We are not sure why this group has assembled here. estern Union operators were nostly men. We do not see any nessenger boys.

Communications, transport, and trade are vital factors in humam life. nthropologists argue about what separate human from other animals. This complexis at tghe heart of that difference. Communications is not specific to human, but sending sophiticated messages is. Animals communicate with sound, sight, and chemical signals. Humans do the same, but sound is by far the most important. Sight can convey messages verry rapidly. It was how sighting of the Spanish Armada was conveyed to the English fleet and Queen Elizabeth by lighting pyres along the coast. And sending visual signls is how naval ships communicated into the 20th century along with early wireless. There are, however, limits to what can be conveyed by sight both the sophisticated of the message and the distance. Sophisticated messages required language. And wih the development of language even the most sophisticated thoughts could be commuicated over distance. The limiting factor became speed. At first this meant the speed man could travel. And with the domestication of horses, the upper limit was the speed of horses. Great empires like Persia and Rome built extensive road networls to speed delivery of messages and commerce. Empires without horses, like the Inca, were limited to human runners. Messages were also delivered by sea which were limyed by sail and oar power. These were the upper limits on the speed of communications. This was the case for millenia. And there were no notable exceptions until science and the Insustrial Revolution began to transform Europe and North America. The advances began to transform communications (early-19th century). The first advance was steam power which began to increase ship sea speeds and then land speeds with the railroads (1830s). And at the same time electronic systems were invented and soone commercial telegram systens wre developed (1837). Virtually at the same time, countries in Europe and North America instituted sophisticated postal systems which relably and inexpensively delivered letters. A turing point here was the British Penny Black, the first adhesive postage stamp (1840). Very quickly electronic technologies imoroved, although they were expensive. The first sucessful oceanic cables connected America with Europe (1851), aklthough there were inituial opribklems. The Rockies proved a bigger challenge. The first transcontinebtal telgraph system concted the East with California (1861). Cables soon spanned the globe. The next technnological step was the telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell and others (1876). Like the telegraph the telephone required a land wire connection. The next major step was radio communication. This began soon after what became known as wirless (1888). Guglielmo Marconi began developing a wireless telegraph system using radio waves (1894). This at first required a large transmitter and were limited to sending cryptic telegraph-like coded messages. Ships had the needed electrical power. This was was most famously demonstrated by rescuuinfsome of thec Tutanic passengrs (1912). Huge advances were made during World War I which by the end of the War allowed spoken messages and music leading to the radio industry (1920s). Radio replaced wireless in popular terminology, aerm based on how electronic messages radiated. Tehnology improved, but no major advnces were made until after World War II, artifacts of the Cold War Spave Race. The first major innovation was the personal computer and email (1980s). These at first depended on land lines. Modern wirless commuications and the cellphone was the next step (1973) although it was not for several years until it became a common consumer item (2000s).

Humanity

Communications, transport, and trade are vital factors in humam life. anthropologists argue about what separate human from other animals. This complex is at the heart of that difference.

Commuication

Communications is not specific to human, but sending sophiticated messages is. Animals communicate with sound, sight, and chemical signals. Humans do the same, but sound is by far the most important. Sight can convey messages verry rapidly. It was how sighting of the Spanish Armada was conveyed to the English fleet and Queen Elizabeth by lighting pyres along the coast. And sending visual signls is how naval ships communicated into the 20th century along with early wireless. There are, however, limits to what can be conveyed by sight both the sophisticated of the message and the distance. Sophisticated messages required language. And wih the development of language even the most sophisticated thoughts could be commuicated over distance. The limiting factor became speed. At first this meant the speed man could travel. And with the domestication of horses, the upper limit was the speed of horses. Great empires like Persia and Rome built extensive road networls to speed delivery of messages and commerce. Empires without horses, like the Inca, were limited to human runners. Messages were also delivered by sea which were limyed by sail and oar power. These were the upper limits on the speed of communications. This was the case for millenia. And there were no notable exceptions until science and the Insustrial Revolution began to transform Europe and North America. The advances began to transform communications (early-19th century). The first advance was steam power which began to increase ship sea speeds and then land speeds with the railroads (1830s). And at the same time electronic systems were invented and soone commercial telegram systens wre developed (1837). Virtually at the same time, countries in Europe and North America instituted sophisticated postal systems which relably and inexpensively delivered letters. A turing point here was the British Penny Black, the first adhesive postage stamp (1840). Very quickly electronic technologies imoroved, although they were expensive. The first sucessful oceanic cables connected America with Europe (1851). The Rockies proved a bigger challenge. The first transcontinebtal telgraph system concted the East with California (1861). Cables soon spanned the globe. Here the British had an advantage with their expanhsive empire. The All red System was operatiional by the turn of the 20th century (1902). The next step was the telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell and others (1876). Like the telegraph the telephone required a land wire connection. The next step was wireless communication. This began soon after with what became known as wirless (1888). Guglielmo Marconi began developing a wireless telegraph system using radio waves (1894). This at first required a large transmitter and were limited to sending cryptic telegraph-like coded messages. This at first required a large transmitter and were limited to sending cryptic telegraph-like coded messages. Ships had the needed electrical power. This was was most famously demonstrated by rescuuing some of the RMS Titanic passengers (1912). Huge advances were made during World War I which by the end of the War allowed spoken messages and music leading to the radio industry (1920s). Radio replaced wireless in popular terminology, aerm based on how electronic messages radiated. Tehnology improved, but no major advances were made until after World War II, artifacts of the Cold War Spave Race. The first major innovation was the personal computer and email (1980s). These at first depended on land lines. Modern wirless commuications and the cellphone was the next step (1973) although it was not for several years until it became a common consumer item (2000s).

Transport

Travel for centuries was little changed. Transportation of course has major economic implications. Some cultures were especially concerned with transporations and communications. The Persians, Romans, and Incas were notably for their extensive and well maintained road system. Major changes in transportation began to occur in the 18th century. These changes were a critical part of what has become know as the industrial revolution. Canals played an important role in the early phase of the industrial revolution. Efficent new methods of transport were developed utilizing steam engines, both the rail road and the steamboat. At the turn of the 20th century the automobile and airplan appeared. There are many iamges throughout the ages of people traveling which illustrate period dress. The images are especially common in the 20th century with the develop of amateur photography and the ubiquitous snapshot. It was one popular to dress up for major trips. Car ads once depicted fashionably dresses people incliding children. Boys often wore suits for trips in trains and especially airplanes. Today it is more common to wear casual comfortable clothes.

Trade Routes

Trade preceeded civilization. Huntergathers as they moved encounterdother people. Fighting may have occurred, but there was also trade. There may have also been a degree of organization, but this is lost to time. Large scale and highly organized trade did not develop until the agricultural revolution ad the development of civilization. Agricultural surpluses meant tht communities had important quantities of product to trade and as technology develpped along with the advance of civilization, there were more and more procucrs to be traded. Once products and markets developed, what was needed were transport and routes. We discuss transport above. Here we discuss trade routes. The first trade routes would have been between villages and towns. But neigboring communities likely produced the same crops and products. To obtain the variety of proucs needed, long distance trade was needed and this required long disance trade routes. This was beyond the capavility of early agicultural communities, but gradully imporant routes developed. Aspeole began settling down and pursuing agriculture, first in Mesopotamia and then other river vallys, self-sufficiency was still dominant. Slowly economic specialization began to develop. People realized that they could not each produce everything that they either wanted or needed. Farmer began bartering grain, milk, and meat for goods produced by craftsmen in the grwung towns. Local markets developed into twns to faciliate this trade. Only slowly did long distance trade develop. Long distance trade began to develop (about 3000 BC). And as trading created wealth, this created a substantial impetus. Long- distance trade was slow and often dangerous, but was so lucrative that many made the effort. The first long-distance trade occurred between Mesopotamia and Anatolia. Hre the Tigrus-Eurprates developd areltively safe highway. Then Mesopotamian traders began trading furthrer afild with Egyot and eventually the Indus Valley. It was luxury goods that provided the impetus for trade. This was becaue transporting goods any distance is expensive. And thus only very valuable luxury goods were worth trading over any distance. As technology improved trade in more basic goods such as grain developed. Here water ways were needed. In the ancient world there were waterways of some importance. Two were the Tigrus-Euphrates susytem and the Nile. More imortant quanties were made possible by the Meditrrnean Sea and the Chinese Canal system. Gradually trade networks crisscrossed all of the Eurasian continent, inextricably linking cultures for the first time in history. While the purpose of these trade routes was to move goods, the interpersonal interactions requred meant the exchnge of ideas and this meant both religion, technology, and other cultural aspects.









HBC






Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main Economic Sector page]
[Return to the Main Economics page]
[About Us]
[Introduction] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Climatology] [Clothing] [Disease and Health] [Economics] [Freedom] [Geography] [History] [Human Nature] [Ideology] [Law]
[Nationalism] [Presidents] [Religion] [Royalty] [Science] [Social Class]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Children in History Home]






Created: 8:08 PM 9/28/2017
Last updated: 6:00 PM 6/21/2023