modern people accustomed to traveling at high speeds on in-
terstate highways. Th e fi rst paved streets were built probably
in about 4000 b.c.e. in the Indus Valley of India. Th e fi rst
engineered road was built in England in about 3800 b.c.e.,
primarily to span marshland. In about 3000 b.c.e. the ancient
Egyptians constructed a road paved with stones to aid in the
construction of the Great Pyramid. Between about 1100 and
20 b.c.e. the Chinese constructed a road network of some
25,000 miles, and the Silk Road from China through central
Asia to the Mediterranean Seas became a major trade route.
Couriers through the Andes Mountains in South America
relied on roads for travel, and Darius the Great’s Royal Road
in Persia, built around 500 b.c.e., was of such high quality
that postal couriers could travel almost 250 miles per day on
it. Th e Greeks and Mesoamericans also built extensive road
systems, along with bridges to span rivers and marshes.
Th e most sophisticated ancient road system, however,
was built by the ancient Romans, attested to in part by the
word pavement, from the Latin word pavimentum, referring
to the layer of concrete at the base of Roman roads. Many
Roman roads were so well constructed that they survive in
modern times to be seen by tourists in France (Gaul), Italy,
England, and other parts of the old Roman Empire. Roman
road building began in about the sixth through the fourth
centuries b.c.e., but it was not until the Roman Republic,
from the fourth through the fi rst centuries b.c.e., that ma-
jor engineered roads were constructed. In time, these roads
would link every part of the Roman Empire. A person could
travel from the far reaches of the empire to the center of an-
cient Rome, the Forum, using constructed roads nearly the
entire way. Perhaps the most famous of these roads is the
Via Appia, or Appian Way, which extended over 300 miles.
Some of the earlier roads followed the natural contours of the
land, but later roads represented massive excavation projects,
because the builders modifi ed those contours. To match the
sophistication of their roads, the Romans also built bridges,
some of which extended for hundreds of yards.
Ancient roads and bridges were oft en constructed primar-
ily for the purpose of military conquest and the movement of
troops and provisions. Later, they facilitated the administra-
tion of an empire, as offi cials, inspectors, couriers, tax col-
lectors, and the like could travel relatively rapidly and safely.
In time, roads and bridges also came to facilitate trade and
commerce. While boats and ships were used extensively in the
movement of goods, many communities were inaccessible by
water, so roads had to be constructed to enable goods to be
transported. Some of these roads were even named for their
trade purposes. Perhaps the best example is the Via Salaria, a
Roman road built primarily for the transportation of salt.
AFRICA
BY MICHAEL J. O’NEAL
A system of roads and bridges was crucial to the development
of ancient civilizations, including those of Africa. Roads
served a number of key purposes: Th ey enabled central au-
thorities to communicate with far-fl ung regions; they allowed
people from the countryside to engage in trade and exchange
with people in the larger towns and cities, putting them on a
more equal footing socially and economically; they enabled
nations to trade with other nations, expanding the range of
products available to their people; and perhaps most impor-
tant, they allowed people to overcome the limitations of ge-
ography and come in contact with one another, trading ideas,
information, and beliefs. A strong, vibrant empire or state
was almost impossible without a system of roads.
Th e earliest roads in Africa probably were game trails
people used to travel from place to place as they searched
for food and water. Of course, none of these trails survives,
but little imagination is needed to envision people following
paths through the forest or over the savanna that animals
had beaten down in their movements. While game trails were
probably the earliest roads the world over, in Africa the wide,
packed-down trails made by elephants no doubt were of par-
ticular use. Like these ancient trails, no prehistoric bridges
survive for the simple reason that such bridges would have
been crudely constructed of logs, though evidence exists of
later suspension bridges built with vines.
Th e fi rst true roads probably developed with the advent
of agriculture. As ancient farmers and herders moved about
with their livestock, they beat down more permanent paths
over the terrain linking parts of their community with others
nearby. In some instances these paths, hardened by centu-
ries of use, can still be found in Africa. Th ey are observable
because grasses and other vegetation still have diffi culty tak-
ing root in the densely compacted soil. Further, these ancient
roadways probably were forged on higher ground; low-lying
ground was more likely to be boggy or thick with vegetation.
On higher ground the action of human and animal feet, and
later carts and wagons, wore down the ground into the bed-
rock over a period of thousands of years.
As far as archaeologists know, none of these ancient roads
was improved or engineered in any way; primitive peoples
lacked the tools and time for making such improvements.
Further, trying to improve roads in the shift ing sands of the
Sahara would have been fruitless. Nonetheless, trade routes
between western Africa and the Middle East took at least four
clearly defi ned routes. Caravan leaders led traders over the
routes, which required about 40 days of travel between Ara-
bia and such West African nations as Mali and Ghana. Th ese
routes were not established until about the third century c.e.,
when the camel was domesticated. Camels were necessary
in the Sahara because they can go without food or water for
long stretches of time. Some of these caravans consisted of as
many as 12,000 camels, though 1,000 was a more common
number. Th e route was marked by a sequence of oases that
provided water.
Among the earliest improved roads of Africa were those
built in the kingdom of Nubia, the region to the south of
Egypt. Archaeologists discovered some of these roads inroads and bridges: Africa 883