Civil What?
Civil engineering has shaped history
for thousands of years! Clean water, trade,
transportation, and amazing structures are all possible
because of it. Explore how civil engineering is making history.
- 3000 bce
- 0 ce
- 2011 ce
2850 bce
Dams
Sadd el-Kafara, 2850 BCE
62 ft. high and made of earth and rocks, this ancient Egyptian dam is the world’s oldest.
1345 ce
Bridges
Ponte Vecchio Bridge, Florence, 1345 CE
An Italian Renaissance stone arch bridge that used a flat arch (instead of round). Modern bridges are based on its proportions.
1956 ce
Roads and Transit
Interstate Highway System, 1956 CE
The US Interstate Highway System is its biggest and most important transportation network. It makes it easier to get supplies to almost all major U.S. cities.
300 bce
Water Supply
Aqua Appia, 300 BCE
The first Roman aqueduct, a water supply system that brought spring water to the city of Rome, was almost all underground.
1450 ce
Sustainability
Machu Picchu, 1450 CE
This historical Inca site is an example of a sustainable ecological system built by humans.
1900 ce
Disasters
Galveston Seawall, 1900 CE
Engineers raised the entire city of Galveston 17 feet and built this seawall to protect it from another deadly disaster.
Photos courtesy of: Sadd el Kafara - Jean-Luc Frerotte; Ponte Vecchio - ASCE purchased rights; interstate highway system - ASCE purchased rights; Aqua Appia - Wilke D. Schramm (J.B. Piranessi); Machu Picchu - ASCE purchased rights; Galvaston TX Flood - Jason Tinder on FlickR;
