Although it might be significantly easier to travel to all corners of the world with
modern technology, travel is certainly nothing new in the grand scheme of human existence,
indeed many animal species regularly migrate long distances, whether it be to avoid the
harsher seasons, or for a more stable food supply.
As humans followed herds of grazing animals, first as prey and later as livestock, most
humans lived nomadically, following the grazing herds as they sought new pastures.
It wasn’t until the invention of agriculture when humans first started staying still.
As these settlements grew they became a focal point for trade, talent, and certain resources,
but not always every resource a city could need.
Luckily there was an easier option, trading with another city.
But once you’ve already explored the region and have made friendly ties with those on
the other side, how did these ancient peoples-- from the grandest kings to the lowliest Drew
Binsky’s of the ancient world-- reliably travel between their cities without the help
of modern technology?
The earliest method of travel was of course just walking somewhere, maybe running.
One advantage of walking upright as opposed to on all fours is it allowed early humans
to carry stuff whilst on the move, whether that be food or supplies or whatever.
This obviously had its limitations though, as humans aren’t particularly fast or strong
or endurant, which is where domesticated animals like the fast and strong horse or the strong
and endurant camel or the fast and endurant sled dog came into play, not to mention oxen,
cows, donkeys, or whatever cards a civilization was dealt for their starting region.
To transport heavier loads the wheel first showed up in around 3500 BC, attached to carts
for loads too heavy to be carried atop even the strongest of horses and camels.
This allowed people to transport heavier goods at faster speeds, but were only truly useful
on flat, stable terrain.
At around the same time though, sailing ships became commonplace as well.
Rivers were the lifeblood of early civilizations not just for the freshwater, but also for
the easy travel they provided for merchants and traders.
Sailing a ship requires much less muscle than an animal pulling a cart, especially considering
how much more weight a ship can carry, and it was much harder to get lost on a river
than in the open sea, especially in the days when the best way of navigating the open sea
was hugging the coastline.
In Ancient Egypt this was no different, as saying Egyptian civilization revolved around
the Nile would be an understatement.
In a sense, you could almost say Egyptian civilization *was* the Nile, as it not only
provided precious water at the edge of the largest hot desert in the world, but also
provided an easy method of transport across the kingdom.
Land travel however would not have been quite so strongly emphasized, as large animals we
may associate with the region today, such as oxen and camels, were not introduced to
Egypt until surprisingly late into their history.
Camels for instance weren’t introduced until the 7th century BC by the Assyrians, nearly
2,000 years after the pyramids were built.
Let’s fast forward a couple millennia to the height of the Roman Empire.
At its height in the 2nd century AD, Rome spanned the entire Mediterranean, spanning
from the north of England to Jordan.
One of Rome’s most consequential developments, both then and now, was the system of roads
it built spanning the massive empire.
372 Great Roads connected the cities of the Empire’s 113 provines, with more than 80,000
kilometers of stone-paved highway, and in total more than 400,000 kilometers of roadway,
even further than the distance to the Moon, wait this isn’t my new second channel Celestium.
The Romans were able to cover vast distances within a matter of days thanks to this road
network.
Using a system of special horse relays similar in some ways to the Pony Express in the American
west 1,800 years later-- the cursus publicus-- a message could be sent from Rome to Lutetia
(modern-day Paris) in only 7.5 days, which isn’t bad compared to a 14-hour driving
time in the 21st century.
Civilians however wouldn’t have traveled there nearly as fast of course.
Sailing first from Rome to Arelate (modern-day Arles), then taking a carriage to Lutetia
would have taken more like 28 days, but it’s not like your average Roman citizen would
have had to walk the whole way.
Roman civilians traveling by land would have traveled in a carriage called a raeda, essentially
a four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage with wooden benches, a cloth roof (if any roof at all)
and a weight limit of 1,000 libra, or roughly 300 kilograms.
Basically it was like the Greyhound bus of the Roman world.
More wealthy Romans would travel in a similar carriage called a carpentum, which featured
an actual rooftop, more comfortable seats, and an early form of suspension because those
roads were not smooth!
Rest stops called mansiones (singular mansio) were situated roughly every 25-30 kilometers
alongside a Roman road for rest and refreshment.
Often more buildings would have been built around the mansio, frequently expanding into
full-fledged towns of their own.
Traveling by sea wouldn’t have been quite as comfortable, but for many routes it would
have been quicker.
Passenger ships and cruise ships however weren’t exactly a thing in Ancient Rome, thus if a
Roman who wasn’t wealthy enough to own their own ship wanted to travel by sea, the best
way would have been to negotiate one’s way onto a merchant ship.
Most of these travelers sat on the decks of these ships, bringing their own supplies including
food, games, blankets, and often even tents, as the cabins were only available for those
who could afford them.
Traveling by sea was generally quicker and easier, but would not have been as safe during
the winter due to the rougher waters, and thus these ships did not so often sail during
the winter months.
Nevertheless traveling from Rome to Alexandria would have only taken about 14 days, and many
of the cheapest summer itineraries from Rome to Londinium would have taken a traveler on
a 39-day trek around Hispania and Gallia and into the Atlantic.
By the way, I got the estimated travel times though the website orbis.standford.edu (link
down below) where you can calculate the quickest, shortest or cheapest routes between two Roman
cities, depending on season, method of travel, or whether you’re civilian or military.
Open it in a new tab and have fun with it after this video’s over.
Let’s move forward about 1,000 years to the height of the Silk Road, a trade network
extending from Cairo and Constantinople through Iran and Central Asia and into China, or around
Arabia, India, and Malaya into China if you wanted to sail the route instead.
The Silk Road had existed for millennia, with its origins in the Persian Achaemenid Empire
and its system of royal roads, all the way up into the Age of Discovery.
Of course the Silk Road was not an actual road, but a series of routes between different
cities connecting China to the Mediterranean.
In place of wagons would have been massive camel caravans, better adapted for traversing
the often unforgiving terrain, flanked by some of the hottest deserts and some of the
tallest mountains in the world.
Larger caravans were also better at thwarting attack by thieves and bandits on the roadside.
In place of the Roman mansiones were similar resting places called caravanserais, deriving
from the Persian words for caravan and palace, where travelers could similarly recharge and
recuperate for a fee.
Most traders and caravans did not traverse the whole of the network, instead ferrying
goods from one section to another, and dropping off any extra goods at waystations to be picked
up by other caravans to the next city.
Effectively, trading across the Silk Road was more akin to these cities and kingdoms
passing goods between Europe and China, and presumably wanting some of those goods for
themselves along the way.
In total it would have taken upwards of two years to travel the entire route, and the
super long journey times through Persia and Central Asia made European and Chinese goods
extremely expensive by the time they reached the other side.
In some ways this was a motivating factor for later European empires setting up trading
posts and colonies across Asia.
One of the many legendary travelers who did traverse the whole of the Silk Road though
would include the Chinese admiral Zheng He, a man I‘ve wanted to talk about on this
channel for so long and [geeking out noises].
Zheng He, born Ma He in Yunnan Province in southwestern China, was a court official for
the Ming emperor Zhu Di, who in 1403 ordered the construction of a massive Treasure Fleet
of trading ships, warships, and support ships to embark on a massive expedition throughout
the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, with Zheng He chosen as effectively China’s
ambassador to the known world.
In total the grand fleet encompassed a total of 208 ships, including 62 massive Treasure
Ships, with a total crew of 27,800.
At the time this was the equivalent of taking the entire population of Vienna, and putting
them on massive trading ships… and then adding another 3,800 people.
This was effectively the Ming Dynasty equivalent of global power projection, with Zheng He’s
seven voyages displaying the wealth power and goodwill of the Middle Kingdom to the
kingdoms of Southeast Asia, India, Arabia, and East Africa, with each expedition lasting
somewhere around 2-3 years.
Zheng He, and fellow Silk Road travelers like Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta, were each a lot
of different things, but something they weren‘t were explorers.
Both Europe and China had a decent knowledge of Eurasia and Northern and Eastern Africa
by this time, even if they might not have known much about what exactly lay in these
lands.
And their stories remain legendary, not because they were the only ones to make this journey—
far from it— but their travels helped bridge gaps between distant cultures.
Something most people today can do… once the pandemic actually ends… and if you have
enough money for a plane ticket.