Water Transportation Science Project Idea

Water as a Means of Transportation

In addition to the value of water in the air, as rainfall; in furnishing power, from waterfalls; for various industrial purposes; and for drinking and household uses, it also furnishes one of the chief means of transportation. The location of cities and the development of nations have been determined by opportunities for utilizing water transportation. The development of New York into one of the largest cities of the world has been greatly influenced by the fact that it possesses a harbor which is almost unrivaled. In the same way, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore on the Atlantic Coast ; St. Louis and New Orleans on the Mississippi; Chicago, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, and Duluth on the Great Lakes ; and San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle on the Pacific Coast, owe much to the advantages which they offer to water transportation. Africa has few harbors, Europe has many.

Explain how this fact may have led to the more rapid development of civilization in Europe.

Since harbors to such a great extent determine the importance of a country, we naturally ask how a good harbor such as that of New York has been formed.