US Events: The Transcontinental Railroad

First proposed during the American Civil War, the First Transcontinental made a huge leap in connecting the ever expanding western territories to the booming, industrialized east coast allowing for the easy transportation of people and goods across the large North American continent. Constructed largely in part by veterans of the Civil War, and Irish immigrants in the east and immigrants from Asia in the West, this railroad allowed for the settling of what had previously been known as "The Great American Desert". This rapid expansion of emigration to the west also contributed substantially to the amount of land controlled by Native American peoples as they were slowly forced of their native lands be settlers and railroad companies. With the railroad came the need for communication across the large nation as well, which was made possible with the implementation of telegraph communication, which required lines to be run along the newly laid railroad tracks. Similarly the Cape to Cairo Railroad envisioned by British Imperialist Cecil Rhodes was designed to connect southern African to northern Africa, easing transportation of peoples and goods but ultimately failed because of the geographic and cultural challenges of the African Continent.