domestication of the horse presented problems that ancient
peoples did not fully overcome. Although oxen have big, prom-
inent shoulders to press against heavy yokes, horses do not. Th e
best solution to harnessing a horse probably came from China,
where a breast strap was invented. Th is strip of leather stretched
around the horse’s chest. It restricted the horse’s breathing and
could compress arteries that brought blood to the horse’s brain,
which meant the horse was limited in the loads it could haul.
Th is meant that while horses were great for speed, oxen re-
mained in use, as they are still, for hauling heavy loads.
Th e movement of people and goods were important to an-
cient governments, and they oft en tried to regulate transporta-
tion. Some tried to do it all at once, as did the Qin Dynasty of
China of (221–207 b.c.e.), regulating even the lengths of axles
so that the ruts in roads would be evenly spaced and could be
used by all carts. Others built up their regulations through
many years of traditions, as in ancient India. Still others, like
the Romans, imitated the regulations of other peoples. Each
culture refl ected its customs in its transportation. For instance,
the Romans regarded pedestrian traffi c to be essential to their
way of life, and they therefore forbad produce carts in their
cities during the day and built sidewalks of raised stone that
forced wheeled vehicles to slow down, protecting pedestrians.
When t hi n k i ng of pedest r ia ns, it wou ld be wel l to remem-
ber that although the developments in ancient transportation
were exciting and sometimes led to dramatic change in the
fortunes of civilizations, most people continued to walk. Th e
ancient world was one in which people mostly carried their
needs themselves. Even in the advanced culture of China’s
Han Dynasty (202–220 b.c.e.) road workers were expected to
carry all their tools and food themselves, even to remote parts
of the empire. Many people were too poor to aff ord to ride or
even to have an animal pull their goods. In some parts of the
world, the use of the wheel and beasts of burden came very late
or not at all, as in much of the Americas and Pacifi c islands.AFRICA
BY JUSTIN CORFIELD
Inland travel in Africa was regarded as particularly hazard-
ous, and most early traders seem to have preferred traveling
by boat. Many of the large settlements in North Africa (ex-
cluding those in Egypt) were consequently close to the coast.
In sub-Saharan Africa there were also large settlements along
rivers and around lakes, so it seems probable that vessels
were constructed primarily for navigating rivers. Goods were
clearly traded along the river Niger from an early date.
Horses were domesticated in the European steppes
around 4000 b.c.e. and in Egypt by 3000 b.c.e., so it seems
likely that the use of horses for transportation would have
come to the rest of Africa through Egypt. Th e horses people
initially used were much smaller than the modern domesti-
cated horse and were better for pulling carts or chariots than
carrying riders. Th e use of the larger cavalry horses came
later, and their use quickly spread throughout North Africawhere the Carthaginians, Numidians, and others made ex-
tensive use of them for relaying messages. Horses or donkeys
could be used as pack animals to carry people and important
messages or to pull carriages or carts, which were made with
solid wheels in Egypt and neighboring areas from at least
3000 b.c.e. Bullocks and oxen were also used for this pur-
pose. Th e carts they pulled were large wooden ones; some had
solid wooden wheels, while others had spoked wheels.
For long-distance travel across deserts and inhospitable
terrain (as opposed to forest travel) caravan routes were fairly
clearly defi ned. Camels were the principal beasts of burden
in these conditions, and because their feet are sensitive, their
escorts cleared paths through the stones that normally litter
a desert. In this way routes were established. On shorter jour-
neys where feed was available, horses and donkeys would be
used. Oases, wells, and trading posts lay along these defi ned
routes; for reasons of safety and security, these would be no
more than one day’s journey apart.
Crossing rivers was a task oft en solved by raft s guided by
ropes. Th e Greek historian Polybius (ca. 200–ca. 118 b.c.e.)
refers to the Carthaginians making raft s for their elephants
to cross the river Rhône in Europe, and it seems likely that
similar raft s would have been used to carry elephants, horses,
wagons, people, and goods across rivers in North Africa.
Because the empires of Carthage and Rome were sup-
ported largely by slave labor, the used of manual labor for
loading and unloading goods from ships would have been
commonplace. For some vessels at small ports, it might also
have been necessary to load things onto barges for transpor-
tation between the ship and its fi nal destination or from the
quay to the ship. Many items were transported in barrels,
ma k i ng it compa r at ively e a s y to rol l t hem to t hei r de st i nat ion.
Large numbers of slaves would have worked at the docks and
in the mines and quarries around Carthage, and they would
have carried tools, stones, and other materials by hand. Th e
Carthaginians were well known for their use of elephants,transportation: Africa 1111Petroglyph of camel and horse, from the Sahara Desert at Tassili,
Algeria, North Africa (© Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin
System. Photographer: Jeanne Tabachnick)0895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1111 1111 10/10/07 2:31:07 PM