History of Transport and Communication Class Seven Social Science Geography

Means of Transport

Roadways

These are the most commonly used means of transport especially for short distance travel. Roads may be metalled or unmetalled.

There is a dense network of roads in the plains. Roads can be built in deserts, high mountains and forests too. Roads built underground are called subways or under paths. Flyovers are built over raised structures.

Railways

The invention of the steam engine and the Industrial Revolution helped in quick development of rail transport. They are economical and faster. Steam engines have been replaced by diesel and electrical engines. At some places super fast trains have been developed to make the journey faster. Railway network is well developed in plain areas. It is present in hilly terrain too, but not as much as in the plain areas. The Indian railway network is well developed.

Waterways

Since early days waterways were used as a means of transportation. These are the cheapest means for carrying heavy and bulky goods over long distances. These are of two types:

Inland waterways: Navigable rivers and lakes are used as inland waterways. The Great Lakes in North America, the Ganga–Brahmaputra river system and the river Nile in Africa are some of the important inland waterways.
Sea routes: These are the oceanic routes and are used for transporting goods from one country to another. These routes are connected with the ports. Since these are used for international transport, the safety from the attacks from other countries using sea routes is very crucial. Some of the important ports in Asia are Mumbai and Singapore, New York, Los Angeles in North America, Rio de Jenario in South America and Sydney in Australia.

Airways

This is the fastest means of transport developed in the early twentieth century. Before this was developed, trade was carried on using the land or the sea route. It used to take several months to reach India, for the early traders from other countries. Now it takes only 6-8 hours to travel from India to Europe!

It is the most expensive mode due to the high cost of fuels.
It is vulnerable to bad weather like fog and storms.
It is the only mode to reach even the most distant and remote locations which do not have a road/rail network.
Helicopters are extremely useful for reaching the most inaccessible areas and also for rescue operations and delivering supplies like food, water clothes and other essential items, to areas that are hit by calamities.
Delhi, Mumbai, Frankfurt, Paris, London, New York and Cairo are some of the important airports.

Communication

It is the process of conveying messages to others. New and very fast means of communication have been developed by human beings. This advancement has brought about information revolution in the world. Communication serves the twin purposes of educating and entertaining.

Newspapers, radio and televisions are used to communicate to a large number of people. Hence these are called mass media.
Satellites have expedited communication. They have helped in oil exploration, survey of forest, underground water, mineral wealth, weather forecast and disaster warning.
Now we can send electronic mails through the internet.
We have gone beyond the wired means of communication to wireless means such as cellular phones. These can be used to talk, send messages, share pictures and a lot more.

Internet has made our life very comfortable. All our requirements: right from essential things like ordering groceries, paying bills, to recreational needs like booking movie, rail/air tickets, hotel reservations etc. can be done with the click of the mouse! Standing in long queues is a thing of the past. We are able to save a lot of time due to this.

The term social media is an inseparable part of our lives today. Expressing our opinions on important developments in politics, economy, society etc. through facebook, twitter etc has become an everyday affair for many of us. This also helps in building solidarity among likeminded people regarding issues that concern the society at large.

Keywords:

Transhumance: The word trans means across. This term means the seasonal movement of people. People who rear animals move in search of new pastures according to changes in seasons.

Site: The place where a building or a settlement develops is called its site.

Do You Know?

The train from Xining to Lhasa runs at an altitude of 4000 m above sea level and the highest point is 5072 m.
The Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest railway system connecting St. Petersburgh in Western Russia and Vladivostok on the Pacific coast.

Transport Communication

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