ABSTRACT
People have struggled for centuries to bring down transport costs, often in ways that are barely perceptible: a careful study of the pottery containers in which olive oil was shipped in Roman times shows a slow but steady trend toward thinner walls, so that less weight was added per volume of oil shipped. Until the invention of the railroad, water transport was much more energy-efficient than land transport. Moreover, the enormous expense of railroad building through underdeveloped areas meant that even a large amount of transport cost savings could go with disappointing earnings. The market responded by developing a huge private trade in timber, which grew up wherever there was water transport. Transportation relates to changes in geography. But in fact the means of transport often straddle not only different physical areas, but also different social areas and even almost different historical epochs.
