This is a retrospective on travel that the historian invites us to. It is more about the progress of means of transportation and the ways of traveling. Travel becomes a leisure activity and no longer a utility. Economic exchanges and trade were the reasons for the rise of ancient civilizations.
The Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans traveled to sell their products and obtain monopolies. Exchanges, bartering, the invention of currency, and then the era of movements came. The world shrinks, speed brings countries closer together. The navy, the postal service, mail, the railroad, and then the automobile. Of course, there are the grumblers and the killjoys who refuse progress, and just like today, those who huddle under their comforters and close their doors to the future.
This book, written in 1965, could be republished today as a response to those who refuse Europe, globalization, and the march of history. A work to read or reread as a priority before choosing the next occupant of the Élysée Palace. One should not, as Napoleon I did, refuse the steamship. Europe is this ship, and our future and horizon.
Thierry Jan
