Transportation has a lengthy history that starts way back before 5,000 B.C.  People where always trying to find ways to get from one place to another faster and more convenient.  It all started with the invention of the wheel and worked all the way to flying machines we have today.  There is no doubt that transportation was crucial at the turn of the 19th century.  Its transportation that allowed countries to colonize as quickly as they did, and to mobilize troops as quick and as efficient as they did.  The world would be lost without transportation.