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> somehow they didn't see the need to upscale it for transport If you weren't aware, the Aztec capital was built in the middle of a lake, a kind of larger vers
by jcranmer 5y ago
> somehow they didn't see the need to upscale it for transport
If you weren't aware, the Aztec capital was built in the middle of a lake, a kind of larger version of Venice, so the most effective way to move goods around would by boat rather than any land-based transportation. The area outside of Lake Texcoco would have been quite mountainous, with lowland regions largely being dense jungles, both regions that are obviously poorly suited for wheeled transportation in general.
This is the kind of terrain where the modern US Army, with all of its technological access, will still rely on pack mules to move goods. Do you really think wheeled transport would have been a viable invention in such circumstances?
- thesuitonym 5y agoThat's exactly the point that the GP is making. It's not that they were incapable of creating the technology, they just didn't see it as useful. Similarly, the Neanderthals may have been capable of sewing, they just didn't do it.
- kwhitefoot 5y agoEven in Venice they use wheelbarrows and sack trucks.
- bryanrasmussen 5y agowhere the wheelbarrow is concerned the question then arises, is the wheelbarrow a primary wheeled invention of a secondary one, that is to say do people invent stuff like carts because they are really necessary for moving things around in their area and then afterwards think hey what if we had a smaller cart for moving things in smaller areas? I think it's a secondary invention, and then if you are in an area where the primary invention just doesn't make much sense neither one gets invented.
- doodlebugging 5y agoBut were those wheelbarrows invented in Venice to handle problems that they encountered moving things around their local environment or did they get theirs from some traveler who agreed to tell them where they could get their own?