The Changing Face of Transportation Humans have always been searching for quicker and easier ways to get around . About 10,000 years ago , we built canoes made from logs of wood , while on land we domesticated and started riding horses around 4,000 BC . Roughly 500 years later , we invented the wheel , which led to carts and wagons , and at almost the same time , the Egyptians invented the sailing boat . Up until the 18th century most people travelled by sailing boat , horse or stagecoach , but in 1769 , there was a major breakthrough when the Scottish inventor James Watt invented the steam engine . In 1783 , the French inventor Claude de Jouffroy used this technology to build the first steamboat , and in 1804 the Englishman Richard Trevithick constructed the first steam - powered train . Railways helped carry coal around Britain and were an important part of the Industrial Revolution . Another major breakthrough came when Kari Benz built the first working car in 1885. Then , in 1903. Orville and Wilbur Wright built the first aeroplane . These two inventions shaped the 20th century . Over time , cars and plane travel became cheaper so that by the 70s a lot of families owned a car and many were holldaying abroad . Also , the 20th century saw the first man in space - Yuri Gagarin in 1961 - and the world was watching when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969 . Nowadays , companies are developing self - driving cars and we will soon be able to take trips into space . The fascinating story of transportation continues and who knows how we'll be getting around in the future . 1The first means of transport
people built were
2 The invention of the wheel
allowed us to make
3 The Industrial Revolution
relied on the invention of
4 Throughout the 20th century
travel by car and plane
5 in the future, people will be
able to travel​​