The Meaning of Transportation

Transportation can be defined as the movement of people and goods from one place to another either by land, water or air. It is the process by which people and their products from one place to another

Transportation makes international trade possible and help to bring about good relationship between countries.

Local/Indigenous Means of Transportation

This is the traditional means of transportation; it involves the use of

• Human porterage and trekking : This involve carrying food on the head, shoulder or back. It is commonly used by those living in the forest areas or villages.
• Beasts of burden or pack animals: This is a situation where people make use of animals like horses, camel, donkeys in moving from one place to another. It is mostly used by people living in the grassland or savanna areas of Northern Nigeria.
• Canoes, calabash and rafts: These means of transportation are used in riverine areas like Bayelsa, Calabar, Lokoja etc.

Modern Means of Transportation

The  three modern means of transportation involves

• Land Transportation: This is the movement of people and goods from one place to another on the land. It is divided into road and rail transport. The road transportation involves the use of buses, cars, lorries to convey goods and people from one place to another while rail transport is a locomotive which run on two metal rails. The speed and the amount of goods carried by train depend on the width of the railway gauges.

Advantages of Road transportation

1. It is the most universal means of transportation
2. It is easy to access
3. It links countries within the same continent
4. The cost of maintenance is low
5. It facilitate the movement of people within short distance
6. Provision of employment opportunities

Disadvantages of Road transportation

1. Long distance attracts very high transportation cost
2. Scarcity of fuel or diesel can paralyse the road transportation
3. Bad roads leads to accident or damage of cars or buses
4. It is slow over long distance
5. Traffic congestion or hold up brings about waste of time

• Water Transportation:It is the system of carrying goods and people from one place to another using ships, canoes, ferries, engine boat etc through the bodies of water.

Advantages of Water Transportation

1. It is good for carrying of bulky goods
2. It encourages international trade
3. It is most suitable for perishable goods
4. It is cheap

Disadvantages of Water Transportation

1. It is expensive to maintain a ship

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JSS1 Social Studies Third Term: Transportation and Economic Development