The Role of Transport Vehicles in Ancient Eurasian Integration

The article is devoted to assessment of the role of transport in development and integration of the Eurasian continent in ancient times. Upon analysing the role of water (river and sea) transport in establishing connections between remote regions of Eurasia, it is highlighted that, given the geographical features of Eurasia, its integration could not be achieved based on the use of water transport alone. Attention is focused on the importance of land transport innovations (the use of horses for riding and the emergence of wheeled carts), thanks to which previously inaccessible areas in the steppe zone of Eurasia became suitable for use and the productivity of cattle breeding increased. It resulted in strengthening of intergroup interaction and development of integration institutions that determined both the life of individual societies and the interaction between them. New transportation opportunities, increased spatial mobility, and the growing complexity of public institutions gave rise to new social and material needs, stimulated migration and development of interregional exchange. At the same time, not only was there an exchange of surplus products, but production expanded to increase exchange, becoming a commodity manufacture. All this contributed to implementation of the geographical advantages of Eurasia and provision of a higher population density and economic productivity of the use of the territory there compared to the world average. The synergetic development of water and land transport vehicles and transportation and the long-distance trade based on their use resulted in the transformation of Eurasia by the beginning of II millennium BC into a single system of interconnected cultures.