By Neil Kook
Have you ever wondered how travel was born?
A new online visual tool that charts the evolution of global travel created by ‘Journeys are made @ gapyear.com’ (www.gapyear.com) helps out a little. The ‘History of Travel’ is an education tool that curious travellers and history buffs can use to learn about the journey undertaken by the human race so far, travelling the globe and beyond.
The project, which features parallax scrolling, reveals the epic journey undertaken by the human race so far, from the great migrations out of Africa tens of thousands of years ago to our recent voyages into the corners of the solar system.
Spanning over 70,000 years, the ‘History of Travel’ transports readers on a visual voyage through civilisation. Encompassing humanity’s most groundbreaking expeditions, the project offers a fascinating insight into the emergence of cartography, the rise of empires, the Age of Discovery and the birth of industry and mass transport.
Using this new tool, one can learn about the travel habits, transport methods and momentous discoveries of hundreds of cultures throughout the world. Ideal for educators, the ‘History of Travel’ also serves as an informative and engaging teaching resource for the classroom.
Commenting on the launch, author of the ‘History of Travel’ and editor of ‘Journeys are made @ gapyear.com’, Will Jones said: “This has been an enormous project and I’m delighted we can finally reveal it to the world. We originally planned to create a history of tourism, starting perhaps in the 1950s. But, as is the way with history, we kept on discovering the stories behind the stories, falling back through the centuries until we ended up at the dawn of civilisation itself.”
Cormac Scanlan, COO at ‘Journeys are made @ gapyear.com’ and head designer behind the fully responsive content, added: “I’m a firm believer in the power of imagery and strong visual design to add colour and perspective to digital content. We approached the history of travel with the aim of creating an inspiring long-form article which gave a good level of depth and detail to a complex topic, while also remaining accessible and visually engaging throughout.
I believe we’ve achieved those goals, and hope this will stand up as a unique and valuable resource.
Needless to say we are all very proud of what we’ve produced.”