roman empire and mondern day europe Essay -- essays research papers

Part IFigure 3.3 on page 67 illustrate the twine of the Roman Empire in relation to road construction and transportation and the similarities of those early formations with late day Europe. A great deal of events has occurred between the period periods of the two maps. The first major road clay was established by the Roman Empire from 300 BC and onwards, mainly for economic, military, and administrative reasons. The road system relied on solid road engineering methods, including the laying of foundations and the construction of bridges. This was also linked with the establishment of pan-continental trading routes like the Silk Road that linked Europe and Asia by 100 BC. After the fall of the Roman Empire after the 5th century, integrated road transportation fell out of favor as to the highest degree roads were locally constructed and maintained. Due to the lack of maintenance of many road segments, land transport became a very dangerous activity. It wasnt until the creation of modern nation-states in the 17th century that national road transportation systems were formally established. Through central government efforts the French built their Royal Roads system spanning 24,000 km, over which a public transport service of stage-coaches carrying passengers and mail was created. The British built a 32,000 km system of turnpikes where tolls have to be paid for the drill of a road. It was mostly a private sector effort. 1794 introduced the beginning of modern road transportation with the first ...