Was H.G.Wells' pioneering novel "The Time Machine" inspired by steam-powered transportation?
Consider that in Wells' time, England was considered the most technologically-advanced country on the planet. An Englishman could board a steam-powered train and be whisked to the coast within a day. There he could board a steam-powered ocean-liner that could deliver him to an African port within a week. A few days journey up-River on a steam-powered boat could deliver him to the deepest, darkest part of Africa. A corner of Africa as primitive as the one that his great-great-grandfather left hundreds of thousands of years before.
Consider that in Wells' time, England was considered the most technologically-advanced country on the planet. An Englishman could board a steam-powered train and be whisked to the coast within a day. There he could board a steam-powered ocean-liner that could deliver him to an African port within a week. A few days journey up-River on a steam-powered boat could deliver him to the deepest, darkest part of Africa. A corner of Africa as primitive as the one that his great-great-grandfather left hundreds of thousands of years before.