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Prior to the invention of the railroad, all bulk goods (including food and non-precious metals like tin) could essentially only be traded long distance via ship
by CydeWeys 7y ago
Prior to the invention of the railroad, all bulk goods (including food and non-precious metals like tin) could essentially only be traded long distance via ship. It simply isn't practical to move them via animal-drawn carts; the animals cost too much, they eat too much, it takes too long, and the roads weren't there.
Rome, for example, was supplied by an unbelievable number of ships' worth of food every day. It would have starved without that ocean access; there's not enough nearby land to be used as farmland to grow all the necessary food in the pre-railroad era.
- JoeAltmaier 7y agoTin was very valuable. In fact most often we find high-value product have travelled long distances. Like jewelry, decorative items. Is tin one of these?
- btilly 7y agoEven after the invention of the railroad, it is cheaper to sail from Los Angeles through the Panama Canal to New York than to send the same load cross country by train. Railroads are the cheapest form of land transportation. But boats are cheaper still.