Evolution of Technology
Leah Hand
HIS 220
Evolution of Technology
Technology is always changing. This rapid change was very apparent during the Industrial Revolution. There was rapid growth of population which brought on the needs for more of everything. There needed to be more products for the people, more jobs, and more space. The world today is also going through the same type of revolution, though in many different ways. The technology we have gained in the last 170 years has brought people together in many ways.
There were technologies made in the nineteenth century that brought people together with products, such as railroads and canals. The canal brought goods from the ships and boats inland where it would be able to reach more people. Canals rapidly expanded from the east to west, as did the railroads. Railroads boomed between the years of 1850-1860, tripling in that time (Slavery and cotton). The ability to transport goods by rail was much faster than by the roads or canals of previous. In 1825, the Stockton and Darlington Railroad became the first railroad line to transport people (Brinkley, 2008). In 1903, the Wright brothers invent a plane that would be perfected so that transportation of goods and people could go much farther and much faster (The history of transportation). With these abilities today, people and products can go from place to place with ease. In my industry, we rely on planes and highways to get our products. When we order vases from our wire service providers, they ship them from their warehouse to our store by truck. When we get our flowers, they come from Equador, Holland and many other places across the world. Without the planes to fly the flowers, or the boats to get the flowers to us, we would have a very limited supply of flowers. Because of these technologies, we have tulips year round, tropical flowers in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, and roses, fresh to our door, a week after being cut. These technologies keep countries that are so far apart, so very connected.
Another way to be connected is to be able to communicate over long distances. The telegraph was started in 1832, by Samuel Morse. In 1844 Morse, using his special Morse Code, had transmitted the news of James K. Polk’s Presidental nomination. By , 1866, a transatlantic line was laid, and America could electronicly communicate with Europe. This communication ability allowed for notice to be made of train schedule changes, news could travel faster (Brinkley, 2008), and communication between families would be possible without writing letters. More recently, the invention of the telephone allowed for the ability to hear human voice through the electric wires. In 1969 the ARPANET was invented, this was the first internet (The history of communication). These advancements in communication allow for services and products to be ordered and provided from much farther distances, and at a much faster pace. These forms of communication are essential in my industry, for example, a customer of ours came in