515 BC Darius links Nile and Red Sea
The Persian emperor Darius I constructs a canal linking the Nile to the Red Sea

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

312 BC Via Appia open to traffic
The first Roman road, the Via Appia, links Rome with Capua

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

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

100 Roman roads from England to Egypt
The network of Roman roads stretches eventually from England to Egypt

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

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

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

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

1176 London gets a bridge
Construction begins on London Bridge, the first stone bridge to be built across a tidal waterway

1391 Canal links Baltic and North Sea
Construction begins on a canal from Lübeck south to the Elbe, linking the Baltic and the North Sea

1500 Lock gates by Leonardo
The first modern lock gates are installed on a canal in Milan, probably designed by Leonardo da Vinci

1500 Extensive network of Inca roads
The Inca empire has about 25,000 miles of well-serviced roads, designed for caravans of llamas

1642 Staircase of locks in French canal
The Briare canal, joining the Seine to the Loire, has a staircase of six consecutive locks

1660 Berlin carriage all the rage
The berlin, developed in Berlin, becomes the most successful carriage of the seventeenth century

1681 160-metre tunnel in French canal
The Canal du Midi is completed in France, including at one point a 160-metre tunnel through high ground

1698 First practical steam engine
Thomas Savery creates the first practical steam engine, designed to pump water out of mines

1710 Newcomen improves steam engine
Thomas Newcomen creates a piston steam engine, with the steam condensed in the cylinder by a jet of cold water

1720 Postchaise for comfort
The postchaise, introduced in France, provides the first chance of reasonably comfortable travel by land

1724 Wade builds Highland roads
General Wade, commander-in-chief of North Britain, begins an impressive programme of road construction in the Scottish Highlands

1776 First Boulton and Watt engines
Two Boulton and Watt engines are installed, the first of many in the mines and mills of England's developing industrial revolution

1779 Iron bridge at Coalbrookdale
The world's first iron bridge is assembled in a few months across the Severn at Coalbrookdale

1784 Mail coach leaves Bristol
The first mail coach leaves Bristol for London, introducing a new era of faster transport

1802 Britain's first working steamboat
A steam tug designed by William Symington, the Charlotte Dundas, goes into service on the Forth and Clyde canal

1803 Trevithick demonstrates steam carriage in London
Cornish engineer Richard Trevithick drives a steam carriage in London, from Holborn to Paddington and back

1804 Trevithick runs locomotive on rails
Richard Trevithick runs the first locomotive on rails, pulling heavy weights a distance of 9 miiles (15 km) near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales

1807 Clermont on Hudson river
US engineer Robert Fulton launches a steamboat, the Clermont, on New York's Hudson river

1811 National Road from Cumberland
Work begins at Cumberland in Maryland on the construction of America's National Road

1813 Puffing Billy
William Hedley's Puffing Billy, the first steam locomotive running on smooth rails, goes to work at Wylam colliery

1815 First macadamized road
Scottish engineer John McAdam builds the first macadamized road, in the Bristol region of southwest England

1816 London's first iron bridge is completed at Vauxhall
London's first iron bridge is completed at Vauxhall

1819 John Rennie completes a cast-iron bridge with the world's longest span
John Rennie completes a cast-iron bridge with the world's longest span, crossing the Thames at Vauxhall

1825 Stockport and Darlington railway
Active (later called Locomotion) is the engine on the first passenger railway, between Stockton and Darlington

1825 Erie Canal completed
Work begins on the 363-mile Erie Canal that will link the Hudson River to Lake Erie

1826 Telford's two suspension bridges
Scottish engineer Thomas Telford completes two suspension bridges in Wales, at Conwy and over the Menai Strait

1827 London's first suspension bridge opens at Hammersmith
London's first suspension bridge opens at Hammersmith

1829 Rocket wins
The locomotive Rocket, built by George and Robert Stephenson, defeats two rivals in the Rainhill trials, near Liverpool

1830 Liverpool and Manchester Railway
George Stephenson's railway between Liverpool and Manchester opens, with passengers pulled by eight locomotives based on Rocket

1832 Göta canal completed
The Göta canal is completed, enabling ships to cross Scandinavia from the North Sea to the Baltic

1832 Iron ship steams to Africa
The paddle steamer Alburkah becomes the first ocean-going iron ship, completing the journey from England to the Niger

1833 Brunel joins Great Western railway
27-year-old Isambard Kingdom Brunel wins his first major appointment, as chief engineer to the Great Western railway

1833 Robert Stephenson joins London Birmingham railway
30-year-old Robert Stephenson is appointed chief engineer to the London and Birmingham railway

1833 Rail travel in USA
The first long-distance US railway, in South Carolina, carries its first passengers

1836 Clifton suspension bridge
Work begins on the suspension bridge over the river Avon, at Clifton, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel

1837 London to Birmingham railway
The first trains run between London and Birmingham on the railway designed by Robert Stephenson

1838 Sirius steams across Atlantic
An Irish packet steamer, the Sirius, becomes the first steamship to cross the Atlantic, completing the journey to New York in 19 days

1843 Tunnel completed under the Thames
The Brunel engineers, father and son, finish an 18-year project tunnelling under the Thames between Wapping and Rotherhithe

1843 Brunel's Great Britain
Isambard Kingdom Brunel launches the Great Britain, the first iron steamship designed for the transatlantic passenger trade

1845 Brunel's suspension bridge serves Hungerford market
Brunel's suspension bridge serves Hungerford market

1850 Stephenson's bridge over Menai Strait
British engineer Robert Stephenson completes a box-girder railway bridge over the Menai Strait, between Anglesey and mainland Wales

1852 Transcontinental route in Nicaragua
US entrepreneur Cornelius Vanderbilt conveys passengers across the American continent through Nicaragua by steamship and horse and carriage

1854 De Lesseps wins canal contract
Ferdinand de Lesseps is granted the concession to construct a canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea

1855 Panama railway crosses continent
The Panama Railroad company completes a line between the Atlantic and the Pacific, providing America's first transcontinental link

1858 The Great Eastern, Brunel's swansong
Brunel dies just before the maiden voyage of his gigantic final project, the luxury liner The Great Eastern

1859 New sewers for London
Joseph Bazalgette is given the task of providing London with a desperately needed new system of sewers

1863 World's first underground railway
The Metropolitan Railway, the world's first to go underground, opens in London using steam trains between Paddington and Farringdon Street

1869 Transcontinental railway completed in USA
The Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads meet at Promontory Summit in Utah, completing the first transcontinental line

1869 Suez Canal opens
Thousands of distinguished guests assemble at Port Said for the opening of the Suez Canal

1875 Agreement to construct Channel Tunnel
An agreement is signed between France and Britain to cooperate in the construction of a tunnel beneath the Channel

1879 Paris congress goes for a Panama canal
A congress in Paris, with Ferdinand de Lesseps as president, decides to construct a canal from coast to coast in Panama

1883 Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world, is opened between Brooklyn and lower Manhattan

1885 Benz builds first petrol-driven car
German engineer Karl Friedrich Benz builds the Tri-Star, a three-wheeled vehicle with an internal combustion that is considered the first commercial automobile

1886 Daimler builds 4-wheel car
German engineer Gottlied Wilhelm Daimler builds the first successful 4-wheel vehicle with an internal combustion engine

1890 Railway bridge across Forth
A vast cantilever bridge, spanning a mile of water, carries the railway across the Firth of Forth in Scotland

1890 Electric underground railway
The world's first electric underground railway passes under the Thames, linking the City of London and Stockwell

1891 Trans-Siberian railway
Work begins in the Urals and at Vladivostock, laying track which will eventually join up as the Trans-Siberian railway

1894 Tower Bridge is opened
London's Tower Bridge raises its roadway for the first time to let a ship pass up the Thames

1896 Henry Ford's Quadricycle
US engineer Henry Ford test-drives his first four-wheel internal-combustion vehicle, the Quadricycle, built in a coal shed behind his home

1897 Turbinia breaks speed record
Turbinia, powered by the newly invented Parsons steam turbine, breaks the speed record when Queen Victoria reviews her fleet

1901 Mercedes car named after investor's daughter
Daimler cars launch a new brand, the Mercedes 35 hp, named after the ten-year-old daughter of the investor and distributor Emil Jellinek

1901 First Oldsmobile
Ransome Eli Olds manufactures the Curved Dash Oldsmobile on assembly line principles in Detroit

1902 Steam car sets new record
French automobile pioneer Leon Serpollet sets a new land speed record, driving a steam car at 75 mph along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice

1902 Internal-combustion car sets new record
William K. Vanderbilt drives the first internal-combustion car to win the land speed record, at 76 mph at Ablis in France

1902 Aswan dam
The first Aswan dam, at this time the world's largest, is completed on the Nile

1903 Harley-Davidson motorcycle
William Harley and three Davidson brothers begin the commercial production in Milwaukee of motorcycles, but complete only three by the end of the year

1903 Britain's first Motor Show
Britain's first national motor show is organized at the Crystal Palace, moving two years later to Olympia

1904 The first Rolls-Royce
Charles Rolls and Henry Royce meet in a historic encounter in Manchester and launch their first car, the Rolls-Royde 10 hp, later in this same year.

1905 Austin manufactures cars
English engineer Herbert Austin sets up a factory to manufacture cars at Longbridge, south of Birmingham

1906 Simplon Tunnel
The Simplon rail tunnel, the longest in the world (20 km), is opened between Switzerland and Italy

1906 Lusitania launched
The Cunard company launches the Lusitania on the Clyde as a sister ship to the Mauretania

1907 Rolls and Royce launch Silver Ghost
Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce build their most famous car, the Silver Ghost, in the factory they have set up in Derby

1907 Lusitania sets Atlantic record
The British liner Lusitania sets a new record for the Atlantic crossing, on the first of four such occasions

1908 Model T Ford
The first Model T Ford rolls off the production line at the Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit

1909 Blériot crosses the Channel
Louis Blériot is the first to fly across the English Channel, winning the £1000 prize offered by the Daily Mail

1910 Rolls sets new aviation record
Charles Stewart Rolls becomes the first man to fly non-stop across the English Channel and back

1910 Zeppelin provides commercial air service
Ferdinand Zeppelin's dirigible Deutschland provides the first commercial air service for passengers

1911 Titanic launched
The Titanic is launched at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast

1912 Morris opens Oxford factory
William Morris opens a factory at Cowley, near Oxford, to produce motor cars

1913 The first Morris car
The Morris company launches the Morris Oxford, later known as the Bullnose Morris from the shape of its radiator

1913 Subway in Buenos Aires
An underground railway opens in Buenos Aires, the first subway in Latin America

1914 Panama Canal opens
The Panama Canal opens to shipping on a neutral basis just two weeks after the start of World War I

1916 Boeing sets up in business
William Boeing flies an aircraft built by himself, and a month later sets up in Seattle his own Aero Product company

1916 Federal-Aid Highway Act
The Federal-Aid Highway Act sets up the first national road system in the US

1919 Non-stop trans-Atlantic flight
John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown fly from St John's in Newfoundland to Clifden in Ireland

1919 Canadian National Railways
Canadian National Railways is formed from two of the country's largest rail systems

1922 Austin Seven
British manufacturer Herbert Austin launches Britain's first car for the popular market, the Austin Seven or 'Baby Austin'

1926 Ilyushin designs aircraft
Russian World War I pilot Sergey Ilyushin begins a distinguished career as an aircraft designer

1927 First flight across Atlantic
US aviator Charles Lindbergh, in his single-engine plane Spirit of St Louis, flies solo across the Atlantic from New York to Paris

1929 Byrd over South Pole
US explorer Richard E. Byrd and two companions make the first flight over the South Pole, in a Ford Tri-Motor

1930 Johnson flies solo to Australia
English pioneer aviator Amy Johnson makes a 19-day solo flight in a Gipsy Moth from Croydon (part of London) to Darwin, Australia

1931 De Havilland's Tiger Moth
Geoffrey De Havilland designs the Tiger Moth, on which nearly all British pilots were trained during World War II

1931 George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge links New York with New Jersey, and is the world's longest suspension bridge with a main span of 3500 feet (1066m)

1932 Sydney Harbour Bridge
One of the defining landmarks of Sydney, in Australia, is opened – the single-span steel arch bridge across the city's harbour

1932 Earhart flies across Atlantic
US aviator Amelia Earhart lands in Ireland 15 hours after leaving Newfoundland, to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic

1935 Hoover Dam
The mighty Boulder Dam (renamed Hoover Dam in 1947) is completed on the Colorado River

1935 Howard Hughes flies fastest
US industrialist Howard Hughes sets a new speed record of 352 mph, flying a plane designed by himself

1936 First Spitfire
The prototype of the Spitfire, designed by Reginald Mitchell, has its first test flight

1937 Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge, linking San Francisco and Marin County, is the world's longest suspension bridge with a main span of 4200 feet (1280m)

1937 Von Braun directs rocket research
Rocket engineer Wernher von Braun is appointed director of Germany's weapon research centre at Peenemünde

1938 Burma Road built
Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek) builds the Burma Road as a supply route

1938 Nuffield builds 'iron lungs'
Lord Nuffield donates to Commonwealth hospitals 'iron lungs', built at his Morris Oxford factory,

1939 Sikorski develops helicopter
US designer Igor Sikorsky tests the first practical helicopter, using a rotor on a long tail boom to counter torque

1939 Campbell sets new speed record on water
British racing driver Malcolm Campbell sets a new water speed record of 141 mph

1939 August 27 Germans achieve jet flight
The He-178, designed by Hans von Ohain, becomes the first jet engine to fly, with a test flight lasting five minutes

1940 November 25 De Havilland's Mosquito
The de Havilland Mosquito, a multi-purpose wooden aeroplane widely used by the RAF in World War II, makes its first flight

1941 The first jeep
The US army invests in a significant new vehicle, placing an order for 16,000 jeeps

1941  May 15 First flight by Whittle jet
A Gloster E.28/39 air frame becomes the first craft to fly with a Whittle jet engine

1942 October 3 V-2 rocket
The German V-2 rocket is successfully tested by Wernher von Braun and his team at Peenemünde

1944  January I2 RAF acquires its first jet
The RAF's first jet, the Gloster Meteor, flies with a Whittle engine

1944 July 25 Germans use jet in combat
The Messerschmitt Me 262 fighter-bomber flies into combat, introducing the jet era in aerial warfare

1945 September Von Braun's expertise at disposal of USA
Wernher von Braun and his team of scientists are taken to the USA to develop the German V-2 rocket into an intercontinental ballistic missile

1948 Morris Minor
The Morris Minor is launched, designed by Alec Issigonis, and becomes one of Britain's best-selling cars

1948 Australia's Holden
Prime minister Ben Chifley sees Australia's first mass-produced car, the Holden, roll off the production line

1949 The first jet airliner
The world's first commercial jet airliner, the Comet, designed by de Havilland, goes into service with BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation)

1954 First rotary engine
The German firm NSU builds the first working example of the rotary engine invented in 1924 by Felix Wankel

1959 Mini a sensation in Britain
The Mini is launched, designed by Alec Issigonis, and becomes the best-selling British car of all time

1959 Hovercraft crosses Channel
The first prototype of the Hovercraft, designed by British engineer Christopher Cockerell, crosses the English Channel

1959 St Lawrence Seaway
The St Lawrence Seaway, a joint Canadian and US project, links the Great Lakes and the sea

1962 Trans-Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway is completed, stretching some 5000 miles across the continent

1964 Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, linking Brooklyn and Staten Island, is the world's longest suspension bridge with a main span of 4260 feet (1298m)

1969 Concorde goes supersonic
The Anglo-French airliner Concorde makes its first supersonic test flight

1981 Humber Bridge
The Humber Bridge crosses the Humber estuary in Britain, and is the world's longest suspension bridge with a main span of 4626 feet (1410m)

1993 Three Gorges Dam project
Work begins on China's ambitiious and controversial Three Gorges Dam project

1994 Channel Tunnel opens
France's President Mitterrand and the British queen Elizabeth II together open the tunnel under the English Channel

1998 Longest suspension bridge
The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, linking Shikoku and Honshu in Japan, creates a new record as the longest suspension bridge

2005 A380 takes to the air
The superjumbo Airbus A380 makes its first test flight from Toulouse

2006 Three Gorges Dam completed
Structural work is completed on China's Three Gorges Dam, by far the largest hydroelectric dam in the world

2010  April 20 Explosion on oil rig kills 11
An explosion destroys BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig, killing eleven people and starting a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico