The Persian emperor Darius I constructs a canal linking the Nile to the Red Sea

The great network of roads built by Darius I has at its centre the 2000-mile royal road from Susa to Sardis

The first Roman road, the Via Appia, links Rome with Capua

Roman legions build the Fosse Way, a raised road with a ditch on each side stretching from Lincoln to Devon

Hero, a Greek scientist in Alexandria, devises various forms of steam engine

The network of Roman roads stretches eventually from England to Egypt

A bridge is built over the river Tagus at Alcántara and stands today as a fine example of Roman technology

The Sant'Angelo bridge in Rome, still standing today, is built for the emperor Hadrian by means of a coffer dam

The Grand Canal is constructed in China, joining a network of existing waterways to link the Yangtze and Yellow rivers

A Chinese engineer, Chiao Wei-yo, is credited with devising the principle of the two-level pound lock for canals

Construction begins on London Bridge, the first stone bridge to be built across a tidal waterway

Construction begins on a canal from Lübeck south to the Elbe, linking the Baltic and the North Sea

The first modern lock gates are installed on a canal in Milan, probably designed by Leonardo da Vinci

The Inca empire has about 25,000 miles of well-serviced roads, designed for caravans of llamas

The Briare canal, joining the Seine to the Loire, has a staircase of six consecutive locks

The berlin, developed in Berlin, becomes the most successful carriage of the seventeenth century

The Canal du Midi is completed in France, including at one point a 160-metre tunnel through high ground

Thomas Savery creates the first practical steam engine, designed to pump water out of mines

Thomas Newcomen creates a piston steam engine, with the steam condensed in the cylinder by a jet of cold water

The postchaise, introduced in France, provides the first chance of reasonably comfortable travel by land

General Wade, commander-in-chief of North Britain, begins an impressive programme of road construction in the Scottish Highlands

Two Boulton and Watt engines are installed, the first of many in the mines and mills of England's developing industrial revolution

The world's first iron bridge is assembled in a few months across the Severn at Coalbrookdale

The first mail coach leaves Bristol for London, introducing a new era of faster transport

A steam tug designed by William Symington, the Charlotte Dundas, goes into service on the Forth and Clyde canal