Transport Through Time

Before wheels, roads or engines, people used their own two feet.

The oldest kind of transport is walking. For thousands of years, people in southern Africa walked everywhere. They walked to fetch water, to hunt, to visit family and to move to new land when they needed better grazing or crops.

• Walking is free and needs no fuel.
• People carried loads on their heads, backs or shoulders.
• Long journeys on foot took many days.

People learned to use strong animals to carry them and pull heavy loads.

People began to use animals such as oxen, horses and donkeys. A strong ox could pull a heavy load, and a horse could carry a rider quickly. This meant people and goods could travel further than a person could walk alone.

• Oxen were slow but very strong - good for pulling.
• Horses were faster - good for riding and carrying messages.
• Donkeys and mules carried packs along rough paths.

When people joined wheels to oxen, they could carry whole families and all their belongings.

An ox-wagon was a large wooden wagon on wheels, pulled by a team of oxen. Wagons could carry heavy loads over long distances. During the Great Trek in the 1830s and 1840s, Voortrekker families loaded ox-wagons and travelled deep into the interior, crossing mountains and rivers.

• A team of many oxen pulled one heavy wagon.
• Wagons moved slowly, only a few kilometres each day.
• There were no tarred roads - only rough tracks and open veld.

In the busy city of Durban, people rode in two-wheeled carts pulled by a running person.

A rickshaw is a light two-wheeled cart that carries one or two passengers and is pulled by a person on foot. Rickshaws became a famous way to move around Durban more than a hundred years ago. Rickshaw pullers wore tall, colourful headdresses and beadwork, and you can still see them at Durban's beachfront today.

• Rickshaws were good for short trips in a crowded town.
• The puller ran on foot, so it was very hard work.
• Today Durban's rickshaws are mostly for fun and for visitors.

Steam trains could pull huge loads faster than any animal.

A train is a line of carriages that runs on steel rails and was pulled, long ago, by a steam engine. South Africa's first railway line opened on 26 June 1860, between Durban and the Point (the harbour). For the first time, goods and people could travel quickly on rails instead of slowly by wagon.

• Trains ran on rails, so they did not get stuck in mud.
• One steam engine could pull many heavy wagons at once.
• Trains were much faster than an ox-wagon.

Once diamonds and gold were found, railways were built far into the interior.

After diamonds were found at Kimberley (1867) and gold near Johannesburg (1886), thousands of people needed to move inland, and heavy goods had to reach the mines and the ports. Railways grew quickly. The line from Durban to Pietermaritzburg was completed in 1880, linking the coast to towns further inland.

• Railways connected the harbours to the mines and cities.
• Trains carried coal, machines, food and passengers.
• New towns and stations grew up along the railway lines.

A carriage that moved by itself, with no horse to pull it, amazed everyone.

The motor car was invented in Germany in the late 1800s. One of the first cars in South Africa was a small Benz Velo, driven at Berea Park in Pretoria in 1897. People called it a 'horseless carriage' because it moved on its own, without an animal to pull it.

• Early cars were slow, noisy and often broke down.
• There were very few tarred roads at first.
• In 1912 a car took several days to drive from Johannesburg to Durban.

Today most South Africans travel on roads, in many different vehicles.

Over time, tarred roads were built all over the country, and many kinds of vehicles appeared. Today people travel by cars, buses, trucks, motorbikes, bicycles and minibus taxis. Many South Africans use public transport and taxis to get to school and work every day.

• Trucks carry goods to shops all over the country.
• Buses and minibus taxis carry many passengers at once.
• Bicycles and walking are still important for short trips.

The newest way to travel does not touch the ground at all.

The aeroplane is the fastest way to travel long distances. The first powered aeroplane flight in South Africa was made by Albert Kimmerling at Nahoon, near East London, on 28 December 1909. His early aircraft flew only a few metres above the ground, but it was the start of flying in our country.

• Early aeroplanes were small, light and made of wood and cloth.
• Aeroplanes can cross the whole country in a few hours.
• Today big jets carry hundreds of passengers between cities.

1. Long ago People walk everywhere
2. Later Oxen, horses and donkeys help carry loads
3. 1830s Ox-wagons travel far during the Great Trek
4. 1860 First railway: Durban to the Point
5. 1880 Railway reaches Pietermaritzburg
6. 1897 One of the first motor cars, in Pretoria
7. 1909 First aeroplane flight, near East London

Better transport did not just move people faster - it changed how they lived.

Let us check the important words from today's lesson.

• Transport - the way people and goods move from one place to another.
• Ox-wagon - a wooden wagon on wheels, pulled by a team of oxen.
• Rickshaw - a light two-wheeled cart pulled by a person.
• Railway - a track of steel rails that trains run on.
• Aeroplane - a flying machine with wings and an engine.

Answer these questions to show what you have learned about transport through time.

Work on your own or with a partner. Use full sentences.