The Fragmented World of Early Modern Travel

For a modern time traveler arriving in 17th-century Europe, the most jarring realization would be the sheer lack of mobility. Journeys that now take hours could span weeks or months, with travelers facing treacherous roads, linguistic barriers, and logistical nightmares. Unlike today’s standardized highways and global transit networks, Europe’s transportation infrastructure was a patchwork of neglected Roman relics, muddy trails, and improvised routes.

Roads were often little more than rutted paths, turning into quagmires after rain or dust bowls in summer. As one 18th-century British observer lamented, these routes resembled “the haunts of beasts and creeping things” rather than human thoroughfares. Even major routes like those connecting London to York or Paris to Bordeaux were arduous, expensive, and slow—reserved primarily for the wealthy or those on urgent business.

The Slow Road to Progress

### The State of Overland Travel
– Britain’s Winding Paths: Infamous for their meandering routes, British roads prioritized property rights over efficiency. Foreign travelers like Pierre Jean Grosley noted approvingly that English roads curved to avoid private lands—a quirk he linked to the nation’s respect for individual ownership.
– France’s Centralized Efforts: Under Jean-Baptiste Colbert, France pioneered state-led road improvements in the 1660s. By the 1780s, travel times between Paris and provincial cities like Toulouse or Lyon had halved, thanks to better-maintained chemins royaux (royal roads).
– The German “Barbaric Carts”: Travelers like James Boswell derided German carriages as “savage contraptions”—uncovered wagons with towering wheels that jolted passengers mercilessly. Prussia’s Frederick the Great allegedly preferred terrible roads to force travelers to spend money locally.

### The Rise of Turnpikes and Coaching
Britain’s 18th-century “turnpike revolution” marked a turning point. Private trusts financed smoother roads funded by tolls, slashing travel times:
– London to Manchester: Reduced from 4 days in 1754 to just 36 hours by 1815.
– Cultural Shifts: Faster travel eroded rural isolation, sparking complaints (like poet Oliver Goldsmith’s The Deserted Village) that it corrupted traditional ways of life.

Waterways: The Arteries of Commerce

### Rivers and Canals
Where roads failed, waterways thrived:
– Dutch Efficiency: The Netherlands’ trekschuit (towed barges) offered scheduled, affordable transport. A 67-km trip from Dunkirk to Bruges could be completed in a day—unthinkable elsewhere.
– France’s Engineering Feats: The Canal du Midi (1681), linking the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, was hailed as Europe’s greatest post-Roman engineering achievement. Yet progress stalled until the 19th century.
– Prussia’s Strategic Canals: Frederick the Great expanded waterways like the Finow Canal, tying Silesia to Berlin and boosting grain trade.

### The Limits of Water Transport
– Mediterranean Challenges: Italy and Spain struggled with rugged terrain and underinvestment. Sicily had no proper roads until the 1800s, forcing goods onto slow mule trains.
– Eastern Europe’s Isolation: Russia’s vast distances and primitive roads made river transport vital, yet winter freezes and spring floods rendered even the Volga unreliable.

Postal Networks and the Birth of Modern Communication

### From Messengers to Mail Coaches
– The Thurn and Taxis Dynasty: This German family’s postal network spanned Europe, moving letters 150 km/day by 1800. Their profits—2.55 million guilders—rivaled modern tech giants.
– Britain’s Speed Revolution: John Palmer’s 1784 mail coaches cut London-to-Edinburgh delivery from 3.5 days to 60 hours, enforcing strict timetables that prefigured railroad punctuality.

### The Letter-Writing Boom
Improved postal services fueled an epistolary culture:
– Manual Guides: Samuel Richardson’s Familiar Letters (1741) taught readers how to write for love, business, and moral advice.
– Celebrity Correspondents: Figures like Madame de Sévigné penned thousands of letters, their intimate style shaped by the newfound reliability of mail.

Legacy: How Mobility Shaped Modern Europe

The 17th–18th centuries laid the groundwork for today’s interconnected world:
1. Economic Integration: Efficient transport enabled national markets, eroding localism. Adam Smith praised Britain’s tariff-free internal trade as a key to prosperity.
2. Cultural Exchange: Faster travel and mail spread ideas, fueling the Enlightenment. Voltaire’s letters crisscrossed Europe as readily as his books.
3. Political Centralization: Improved roads strengthened state control—a trend Napoleon would later exploit with his routes impériales.

Yet the era also foreshadowed modern tensions: congestion, crime (like highwayman Dick Turpin), and the erosion of rural traditions. As John Byng grumbled in 1781, turnpikes had “brought London manners into the countryside”—a complaint echoing today’s anxieties about globalization.

From Colbert’s highways to Palmer’s mail coaches, these innovations didn’t just move people and goods—they accelerated history itself, binding Europe into a single, dynamic system poised for the Industrial Revolution.