Historic roads (orhistoric trails in the US and Canada) are paths or routes that have historical importance due to their use over a period of time. Examples exist fromprehistoric times until the early 20th century. They include ancient trackways, long-lasting roads, important trade routes, and migration trails. Many historic routes, such as theSilk Road, theAmber Road, and theRoyal Road of thePersian Empire, covered great distances and their impact on human settlements remain today.
ThePost Track, a prehistoriccauseway in the valley of theRiver Brue in theSomerset Levels, England, is one of the oldest known constructed trackways and dates from around 3800 BCE. The world's oldest known paved road was constructed in Egypt some time between 2600 and 2200 BC.[1]
TheRomans were the most significant road builders of the ancient world. At the peak of theRoman Empire there were more than 400,000 kilometres (250,000 miles) of roads, of which over 80,000 kilometres (50,000 mi) were stone-paved.[2][3] Another empire, that of theIncas ofpre-Columbian South America, also built an extensive and advanced transportation system.
Much later historic roads include theRed River Trails between Canada and the US, from the 19th century. Such pioneer trails often made use of ancient routes created byindigenous people.
TheSilk Road was a major trade route between China and India, Europe, and Arabia. It derives its name from the lucrative trade insilk carried out along its length, beginning in theHan dynasty (207 BCE–220 CE). The Han dynasty expanded theCentral Asian section of the trade routes around 114 BCE through the missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoyZhang Qian.[4] The Chinese took great interest in the safety of their trade products and extended theGreat Wall of China to ensure the protection of the trade route.[5]
Prior to the Silk Road an ancient overland route existed through theEurasian Steppe. Silk and horses were traded as key commodities; secondary trade included furs, weapons, musical instruments, precious stones (turquoise, lapis lazuli, agate, nephrite) and jewels. This route extended for approximately 10,000 km (6,200 mi).[6] Trans-Eurasian trade through theSteppe Route precedes the conventional date for the origins of the Silk Road by at least two millennia.
See also theNorthern Silk Road, theSouthern Silk Road: Through Khotan,Tea Horse Road.
TheShudao (Chinese:蜀道;pinyin:Shǔdào), or the "Road(s) to Shu", is a system of mountain roads linking the Chinese province ofShaanxi withSichuan (Shu), built and maintained since the 4th century BC. Technical highlights were thegallery roads, consisting of wooden planks erected on wooden or stone beams slotted into holes cut into the sides of cliffs. The roads join three adjacent basins separated and surrounded by high mountains. Like many ancient road systems, the Shu Roads formed a network of major and minor roads with different roads being used at different historical times. However, a number of roads are commonly identified as the main routes.[7]
Kaidō (街道,road) were roads inJapan dating from theEdo period (between 1603 and 1868). They act important roles in transportation like theAppian way of ancient Roman roads. Major examples include theEdo Five Routes, all of which started atEdo (modern-dayTokyo).[8] Minor examples include sub-routes such as theHokuriku Kaidō and theNagasaki Kaidō.
Kaidō, however, donot includeSan'yōdō,San'indō,Nankaidō andSaikaidō, which were part of the even more ancient system of Yamato government calledGokishichidō. This was the name for ancient administrative units and the roads within these units, organized in Japan during theAsuka period (AD 538–710), as part of alegal and governmental system borrowed from the Chinese.[9]
Manyhighways andrailway lines in modern Japan follow the ancient routes and carry the same names. The early roads radiated from the capital atNara orKyoto. Later, Edo was the reference, and even today Japan reckons directions and measures distances along itshighways fromNihonbashi inChūō, Tokyo.
TheGrand Trunk Road in theIndian subcontinent was the main road from modern dayBangladesh, through what is nowIndia,Pakistan andAfghanistan. A route since antiquity,[10] it was constructed into a coherent highway by theMaurya Empire in 300 BC. Soon after, the Greek diplomatMegasthenes (c. 350 – c. 290 BC) wrote of his travels along the road to reach Hindu kingdoms in the 3rd century BC[11] After invading India over 1,500 years later,Mughals extended the Grand Trunk Road westwards fromLahore toKabul (the capital of Afghanistan) crossing theKhyber Pass.[12] The road was later improved and extended fromCalcutta toPeshawar by the British rulers ofcolonial India.[13] For many centuries, the road has acted as a major trade route and facilitated travel and postal communication. The Grand Trunk Road remains under use for transportation in India. TheKhyber Pass was an all-season mountain pass connectingAfghanistan to westernPakistan.
Brick-paved streets appeared in India as early as 3000 BC.[14]
Except forRoman roads, European pathways were rarely in good shape and depended on thegeography of the region. In the earlyMiddle Ages, people often preferred to travel along elevateddrainage divides orridgeways rather than in the valleys. This was due to thick forests and other natural obstacles in valleys.
TheAmber Road was an ancienttrade route for the transfer ofamber from coastal areas of theNorth Sea and theBaltic Sea to theMediterranean Sea.[15] Prehistorictrade routes between Northern and Southern Europe were defined by the amber trade. As an important commodity, sometimes dubbed "the gold of the north", amber was transported overland by way of theVistula andDnieper rivers to the Mediterranean area from at least the 16th century BC.[16][17] The breast ornament of the Egyptian pharaohTutankhamen (ca. 1333–1324 BC) contains large Baltic amber beads.[18][19][20] The quantity of amber in the Royal Tomb of Qatna, Syria, is unparalleled for known second millennium BC sites in the Levant and the Ancient Near East.[21] From theBlack Sea, trade could continue to Asia along theSilk Road.
Hærvejen (Danish, meaning "the army road") ran fromViborg, Denmark throughFlensburg (in the present northern German state ofSchleswig-Holstein) toHamburg. The road runs more or less along thewatershed of theJutland Peninsula, known as theJyske Højderyg (Jutland Ridge), similar to theridgeways in England. By using this route rivers were avoided, or fords used, close to the rivers sources. Over time by this route was improved with paved fords, embankments and bridges. Concentrations of mounds, defensive ditches, settlements and other historic landmarks can be found along the road and sections of it can be traced back to 4000 BC.[22]
Roman roads were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of theRoman Republic and theRoman Empire.[23] They ranged from small local roads to broad, long-distance highways built to connect cities, major towns and military bases. These major roads were often stone-paved and metaled, cambered for drainage, and flanked by footpaths,bridleways and drainage ditches. They were laid along accurately surveyed courses, and some were cut through hills, or conducted over rivers and ravines on bridgework. Sections could be supported over marshy ground on rafted or piled foundations.[24][25]
At the peak of Rome's development, no fewer than 29 great military highways radiated from the capital, and the late Empire's 113 provinces were interconnected by 372 great roads.[24][26] The whole comprised more than 400,000 kilometres (250,000 miles) of roads, of which over 80,000 kilometres (50,000 mi) were stone-paved.[2][3] InGaul alone, no less than 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi) of roadways are said to have been improved, and in Britain at least 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi).[24] The courses (and sometimes the surfaces) of many Roman roads survived for millennia; some are overlaid by modern roads.
Francia or the Frankish Empire was the largestpost-RomanBarbarian kingdom inWestern Europe. It was ruled by theFranks duringLate Antiquity and theEarly Middle Ages. It is the predecessor of the modern states ofFrance andGermany. After theTreaty of Verdun in 843,West Francia became the predecessor of France, andEast Francia became that of Germany.
TheOld Salt Route orAlte Salzstraße of theHanseatic League was amedieval trade route in northernGermany that transportedsalt fromLüneburg toLübeck.
TheRennsteig is aridgeway and an historical boundary path in theThuringian Forest,Thuringian Highland andFranconian Forest inCentral Germany. It was a connecting road between small independent states inThuringia. The route crosses the Thuringian Forest and the slate mountains of Thuringia andFranconian Forest, stretching fromHörschel at the riverWerra (nearEisenach) toBlankenstein at the riverSaale. It is part of theEuropean long-distance paths network.
TheVia Regia (king's road) is amedieval road that ran fromFrankfurt am Main toGörlitz in Lower Silesia, in what is today south-westPoland. See also theVia Regia Lusatiae Superioris.
An important medieval German pilgrim route was theVia Tolosana (because the most important town along the way isToulouse, France). This is one of the four medieval pilgrim routes described by Aimery Picaud in his 12th-centuryPilgrim's Guide, used by pilgrims from southern and eastern Europe on theWay of St James toSantiago de Compostela.[27] See also thePalatine Ways of St. James.
TheWittemoor timber trackway is a log causeway orcorduroy road across a bog at Neuenhuntdorf, part of theBerne in the district ofWesermarsch inLower Saxony, Germany. Originating in the pre-RomanIron Age, it is one of several such causeways which have been found in the North German Plain, particularly in the Weser-Ems region. It has been dated bydendrochronology to 135 BCE. It ran across the Wittemoor bog, connecting the more elevatedgeest atHude with the RiverHunte. An Iron Age settlement near a spring in the Lintel section of Hude was at the southern end. A section of the trackway has been reconstructed.
Built somewhat later, theWittmoor Bog Trackways are two historic trackways discovered in Wittmoor in northernHamburg. The trackways date to the 4th and 7th century AD, both linked the eastern and western shores of the formerly inaccessible, swampy bog. A part of the older trackway No. II dating to the period of theRoman Empire is on display at the permanent exhibition of theArchaeological Museum Hamburg inHarburg, Hamburg.[28][29]
Hellweg was the official and common name given to main travelling routesmedieval trade route through Germany. Their breadth was decreed as an unimpeded passageway alance's width, about three metres, which the landholders through which the Hellweg passed were required to maintain.[30]
TheKulmer Steig is a byword for transport links from the Elbe valley over the eastern part of the Eastern Ore Mountains to BohemianChlumec u Chabařovic (German:Kulm). Archaeological finds suggest that this route existed in theBronze (c. 1800–750 BC) and theIron Age (750 BC – early AD) and even in theNeolithic (Stone Agec. 4500–1800 BC)[31]
ThePost Track andSweet Track,causeways or timber trackways, in theSomerset levels, nearGlastonbury, are believed to be the oldest known purpose-built roads in the world and have been dated to the3800s BC.[32] The tracks were walkways consisting mainly of planks ofoak laid end-to-end, supported by crossed pegs ofash, oak, andlime, driven into the underlying peat.[33] and were used to link thefen islands across themarshes. TheLindholme Trackway[34] is later, and dates to around 2900–2500 BC. It fits within a trend of narrowing width and increased sophistication during the third millennium BC. Some argue that this shift could relate to the growing complexity ofwheeled transport at the time.[35]
Tracks provided links between farmsteads and fields, other farmsteads, and neighbouringlong barrow tombs. They also joined the separate localities to the camp meeting places and cross-country flint roads. Others were more likely to have been processional ways, such as the one leading to the gigantic temple atAvebury in Wiltshire. On British hills, the line of tracks often runa little below the actual crest of a ridge, possibly to afford some shelter from the wind or to avoid travellers presenting themselves to marauders as a target on the skyline.[36]
Examples include theHarrow Way and thePilgrims' Way, running along theNorth Downs in southern England. TheHarrow Way (also spelled as "Harroway") is another name for the "Old Way", an ancient trackway in the south of England, dated by archaeological finds to 600–450 BC, but probably in existence since theStone Age.[37][38] The "Old Way" ran fromSeaton inDevon toDover,Kent. Later the eastern part of the Harrow Way become known as thePilgrims Way, following the canonisation ofThomas Beckett and the establishment of a shrine inCanterbury, Kent. Thispilgrimage route ran fromWinchester inHampshire, viaFarnham inSurrey, to Canterbury. The western section of the Harrow Way ends in Farnham, the eastern in Dover.
The Ridgeway similarly keeps to high ground and for at least 5,000 years travellers have used it.[39] The Ridgeway provided a reliable trading route running alongchalk hills from theDorset coast tothe Wash inNorfolk. The high dry ground made travel easy and provided a measure of protection by giving traders a commanding view, warning against potential attacks. TheIcknield Way follows thechalkescarpment that includes theBerkshire Downs andChiltern Hills, in southern and eastern England, from Norfolk toWiltshire.
Other examples of historic roads inEngland include the Mariners' Way in Devon, and theLong Causeway – amedievalpackhorse route that ran fromSheffield toHathersage. The Mariners' Way was created in the eighteenth century (or earlier) by sailors who, in travelling across Devon between the ports ofBideford andDartmouth, linked existing lanes, tracks and footpaths to form a direct route.[40]
InAberdeenshire,Scotland, ancient tracks include theElsick Mounth, which was one of the few means of traversing the GrampianMounth area inprehistoric andmedieval times, and theCausey Mounth, an ancientdrovers' road over the coastal fringe of the Grampian Mountains.[41]Roman legions marched along the Elsick Mounth.[42]
InRoman Britain, there is evidence that trackways were sometimes built upon by the Romans to form the foundations fortheir roads.[43][44][45]Mastiles Lane was a Roman marching road and later an important route for monks leading sheep fromFountains Abbey to summer pasture on higher ground. Also known as the Old Monks' Road,[46] this is now aDales walking track.
The existence ofley lines and their relationship with ancient trackways was first suggested in 1921 by the amateurarchaeologistAlfred Watkins, in his booksEarly British Trackways andThe Old Straight Track. Watkins theorized that these alignments were created for ease of overland trekking on ancient trackways duringneolithic times and had persisted in the landscape over millennia.[47][48]
Improvements inmetallurgy meant that by 2000 BC stone-cutting tools were generally available in theMiddle East andGreece allowing local streets to be paved.[49] Notably, in about 2000 BC, theMinoans built a 50 km (31-mile) paved road fromKnossos in northCrete through the mountains toGortyn andLebena, a port on the south coast of the island, which had side drains, a 200 mm (8-inch) thick pavement ofsandstone blocks bound withclay-gypsummortar, covered by a layer ofbasalticflagstones and had separateshoulders. This road could be considered superior to anyRoman road.[50]
TheVia Pythia (or Pythian road) was the route toDelphi. It was revered[citation needed] throughout theAncient Greek world as the site of theOmphalos stone (the centre of the earth and universe).
The Sacred Way (Ancient Greek:Ἱερὰ Ὁδός,Hierá Hodós), in ancientGreece, was the road fromAthens toEleusis. It was so called because it was the route taken by a procession celebrating theEleusinian Mysteries. The procession to Eleusis began at theSacred Gate in theKerameikos (the Athenian cemetery) on the 19thBoedromion. In the present day, the road from central Athens toAegaleo andChaidari (the old route to Eleusis) is called after the ancient road.
TheCorlea Trackway is an ancient road built on a bog consisting of packed hazel, birch and alder planks placed lengthways across the track, and occasional cross timbers for support. Other bog trackways or "toghers" have also been discovered dating to around 4000 BC. The Corlea trackway dates from approx 148 BC and was excavated in 1994. It is the largest trackway of its kind to be uncovered in Europe.[51]
Ireland's prehistoric roads were minimally developed, but oak-plank pathways covered many bog areas, and five great 'ways' (Irish:slighe) converged at theHill of Tara. An ancient avenue or trackway in Ireland is located atRathcroghan Mound and the surrounding earthworks within a 370m circular enclosure.[52]
TheEsker Riada, a series of glacialeskers formed at the end of thelast Ice Age, formed an elevated pathway from east to west, connectingGalway toDublin.
TheSiberian Route (Russian:Сибирский тракт,Sibirsky trakt), also known as the "Moscow Highway" and "Great Highway", was a historic route that connectedEuropean Russia toSiberia andChina.
The construction of the road was decreed by the Tsar two months after the conclusion of theTreaty of Nerchinsk, on 22 November 1689, but it did not start until 1730 and was not finished until the mid-19th century. Previously, Siberian transport had been mostly by river viaSiberian River Routes. First Russian settlers arrived in Siberia by theCherdyn river route which was superseded by theBabinov overland route in the late 1590s. The town ofVerkhoturye in the Urals was the most eastern point of the Babinov Road.
The much longer Siberian route started inMoscow as theVladimir Highway (a medieval road) and passed throughMurom,Kozmodemyansk,Kazan,Perm,Kungur,Yekaterinburg,Tyumen,Tobolsk,Tara,Kainsk,Tomsk,Yeniseysk andIrkutsk. After crossingLake Baikal the road split nearVerkhneudinsk. One branch continued east toNerchinsk while the other went south to the border post ofKyakhta where it linked to camel caravans that crossedMongolia to aGreat Wall gate atKalgan.
In the early 19th century, the route was moved to the south. FromTyumen the road proceeded throughYalutorovsk,Ishim,Omsk,Tomsk,Achinsk andKrasnoyarsk before rejoining the older route at Irkutsk. It remained a vital artery connecting Siberia withMoscow and Europe until the last decades of the 19th century, when it was superseded by theTrans-Siberian Railway (built 1891–1916), and theAmur Cart Road (built 1898–1909). The contemporary equivalent is theTrans-Siberian Highway.
Streets paved withcobblestones appeared in the city ofUr in the Middle East dating back to 4000 BC.[53]
TheRoyal Road was an ancient highway reorganized and rebuilt by thePersian kingDarius the Great (Darius I) of the first (Achaemenid) Persian Empire in the 5th century BCE.[54] Darius built theroad to facilitate rapid communication throughout his very large empire fromSusa,Syria toSardis,Turkey.[55]
It is claimed that some of the earliest roads were created by humans who followed already existing paths made by animals,[56] and, in particular, that trails created by the herds ofbuffalo shaped the routes taken first byindigenous peoples and then colonists, especially in North America:
However, Frank G. Roe disputes this theory – and its wider application – in "The 'Wild Animal Path' Origin of Ancient Roads".[58]
Some suggest that theportage routes of North Americanindigenous peoples followed "the game trails the animals had made around rough water. ... [And] as centuries passed, well-trodden paths were made, winding among the rocks, and, by the easiest of grades, over or around hills".[59]
A complex system of prehistoric trails are located atTumamoc Hill nearTucson, Arizona where archaeological traces have been found includingpetroglyphs, pottery shards and mortar holes.[60]Chaco Canyon in northernNew Mexico consists of fifteen major complexes and a system of trails. Timber beams used to construct thecliff dwellings were hauled long distances to the site along the trails.[61] The sixty-mile long ancientGreat Hopewell Road of theAdena,Hopewell andFort Ancient cultures ofOhio connected theNewark Earthworks to the mound group at Chillicothe.[62]
TheNatchez Trace is a historic forest trail within theUnited States which extends roughly 440 miles (710 km) fromNatchez, Mississippi, toNashville, Tennessee, linking theCumberland,Tennessee, andMississippi Rivers. The trail was created and used byNative Americans for centuries, and was later used by early European and American explorers, traders, and emigrants in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Today, the path is commemorated by the 444-mile (715 km)Natchez Trace Parkway, which follows the approximate path of the Trace,[63] as well as the relatedNatchez Trace Trail. Parts of the original trail are still accessible and somesegments are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In theAmerican Old West, theOregon Trail was a 19th-centurypioneer route fromIllinois toOregon, much of which was also used by theMormon Trail andCalifornia Trail. TheSanta Fe Trail was a major commercial and military artery fromMissouri toSanta Fe, New Mexico.In modern times, theLincoln Highway (dedicated 1913) was the first road for the automobile across the United States of America, spanning 3389 miles coast-to-coast fromNew York City toSan Francisco.
TheMojave Road (also known asMohave Trail) was a historical footpath and pack trail used by pre-contact desert-dwellingindigenous people that was later followed by Spanish missionaries, explorers, colonizers and settlers. Its course ran across theMojave Desert between watering holes approximately 60 miles (97 km) apart.[64][65]
Corduroy roads are made by placing logs, perpendicular to the direction of the road over a low or swampy area, and were used extensively in theAmerican Civil War, between Shiloh and Corinth after the battle of Shiloh,[66] and inSherman's march through the Carolinas[67]
Aplank road is aroad composed ofwooden planks or puncheon logs, which were commonly found in the Canadian province ofOntario as well as theNortheast andMidwest of the United States in the first half of the 19th century. They were often built byturnpike companies.
ThePlank Road Boom was an economic boom that happened in theUnited States. Largely in theEastern United States andNew York, the boom lasted from 1844 to the mid 1850s. In about 10 years, over 3,500 miles (5,600 km) of plank road were built in New York alone–enough road to go fromManhattan, New York toCalifornia,[68] and more than 10,000 miles (16,000 km) of plank road were built countrywide.[69]
InCanada, theCarlton Trail was afur trade route from south-westManitoba toFort Edmonton inAlberta.
TheRed River Trails were a network of ox cart routes connecting theRed River Colony (the Selkirk Settlement) andFort Garry inBritish North America with the head of navigation on theMississippi River in the United States. These trade routes ran from the location of present-dayWinnipeg in the Canadian province ofManitoba across the Canada–United States border, and thence by a variety of routes through what is now the eastern part ofNorth Dakota and western and centralMinnesota toMendota andSaint Paul, Minnesota on the Mississippi.
Travellers began to use the trails by the 1820s, with the heaviest use from the 1840s to the early 1870s, when they were superseded by railways. Until then, these cartways provided the most efficient means of transportation between the isolated Red River Colony and the outside world. They gave the Selkirk colonists and their neighbours, theMétis people, an outlet for their furs and a source of supplies other than theHudson's Bay Company, which was unable to enforce its monopoly in the face of the competition that used the trails.
The Inca road system was the most extensive and advanced transportation system in pre-Columbian South America. It was about 39,900 kilometres (24,800 mi) long.[70]: 242 The construction of the roads required a large expenditure of time and effort.[71]: 634 The network was based on two north–south roads with numerous branches.[72] The best known portion of the road system is theInca Trail to Machu Picchu. Part of the road network was built by cultures that precede the Inca Empire, notably theWari culture. During the Spanish colonial era, parts of the road system were given the status ofCamino Real. In 2014 the road system became aUNESCO World Heritage Site.[73]
InPeru part of the Inca road system crossed theAndes to connect areas of theInca Empire.
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