Text 1 Origins of Travel

1. Thousands years ago people travelled for food. This, of course, was not a leisure activity, but survival. The devel­opment of safe settlements made travel less important. Men did not want to go far away from their homes. Hunters on foot went to search for prey only if it was necessary to provide food for their village.

2. Sledges were designed around 7000 B.C. to carry food along the tundra. Animals were used to drag these vehicles across snowy fields. However, it wasn't until the invention of the wheel, around 3000 B.C., that wagons and chariots were effectively used to transfer goods and passengers across the land.

3. Water travel began around 4000 B.C. in ancient Egypt as civilization developed along the Nile and Tigris-Euphrates rivers. The Phoenicians built massive fleets to cross the Mediterranean for trade and commerce, and the Vikings, Celts, Greeks, and Romans used vessels to increase their military power. Using the stars as guides, Polynesians navi­gated the Pacific in canoes around 2000 B.C.

4. Beginning in 776 B.C., Greek citizens journeyed every four years to Olympia to worship the god Zeus. Thus the first Olympics began: there was not only sport, but also lodg­ing, food, and fun. Unlike other an­cients, the Romans valued travel for its own sake. Favorable political, economic, and social conditions during the sec­ond century A.D. and the Romans' willingness to learn made travel attractive to the rich. Pathfinders, now they are called tour guides, would recite legends and local history of such cities as Naples, Athens, Delphi, Alexandria, and Troy.

5. After the fall of the Roman Empire and the resulting political instability, travel during the Middle Ages was limited and had a strong religious overtone. Pilgrimages to the Holy Land were taken by nobles, wealthy landowners, and prosperous merchants. Travel to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and other Middle Eastern shrines later expanded: they included the exotic bazaars and entertainment of the Moslem world.

6. In the 1200s Marco Polo travelled to such sites as Baghdad, the Gobi Desert, and the Forbidden City. Christopher Columbus, who admired Polo, began the recorded history of transatlantic travel two hundred years later. Both were followed by explorers like Vespucci, Cabot, Drake, Magellan, and Cook.

7. On land, the Grand Tour became popular among the English aristocracy. The development of the stagecoach greatly increased land travel despite the poor condition of most roads. Following the Industrial Revolution, such technological achievements as the railroad further increased land travel. Steamships and clipper ships began making regular transatlantic crossings in the early nineteenth century, and spas became popular during this time.

8. The Golden Age of hotels began in the 1900s with the Tremont House and the Waldorf-Astoria. Twenty years later, the Great Depression nearly destroyed the travel industry in America. However, the creation of Henry Ford's Model-T during this same time period helped to develop highway motels. People started to travel for family vacations. Orville and Wilbur Wright were experimenting with a winged bicycle that was the beginning of air travel in the early 1900s. rather than just the upper classes, was finally a reality.

 7. Look through the text and find in which paragraph you can read about:

A. travelling by water ______ B. traveling in Britain ______

C. travel for survival _____ D. travel for the masses _____

E. transport to transfer goods and passengers across the land ________

F. famous explorers ____ G. traveling in ancient Greece and Rome __

H. pilgrimages _______

8. Find words in the text with the following meaning:

1. voyage (parag. 3) __________ 2. trade (parag. 3) ____________ 3. accommodation (parag. 4) ___ 4. catering (parag. 4) _________

5. pathfinders (parag. 4) ________ 6. attractions (parag. 5) ________ 7. places (parag. 6) ____________ 8. highway (Br.)(parag. 8) ______