How did building roads and aqueducts contribute to the growth of rome?

Answer 1

The growth of Rome can be understood as imperial expansion and economic growth.

The Romans built a network of roads throughout their empire which totalled 400,000 kilometres (250,000 miles). They provided a communication system which facilitated travel, administration and trade. People could travel more easily. The roads were also used by government officials who were appointed in the provinces and had to travel there or were transferred from a province to another and by government messengers. They also facilitated the transport of goods for trade and therefore the growth in trade and the economy of the empire. The thriving trading networks which developed throughout the empire were a powerful agent of integration of the of the conquered peoples into empire and the roads contributed to this.

There were three types of Roman roads: the via munita, which was the stone-paved road, paved with rectangular blocks of local stone, or polygonal blocks of lava. It had a military purpose. It made the transport of military supplies to the camps at the front or to garrisons quicker and easier; the via glareata, which was an earthed road with a gravelled surface; the via terrena ,which was a rural road of levelled earth.

The stone-paved roads helped to defend and maintain Rome's imperial growth. They had a military purpose. The speeded up and made easier the movement of troops and of supplies to soldiers at the front or in garrisons. Since Rome was at war so often, they were very important. They also made communications and the transport of goods for trade easier.

The Romans started building aqueducts when population growth caused demand for water to outstrip the local sources. They brought water from the sources on the nearby mountains to the east of the city. The more the city grew the more aqueducts were built. Aqueducts were also built for the Roman towns around the empire. The supply of fresh water they provided was important for drinking, washing, cleaning, bathing, public hygiene, but also the manufacturing processes which required the use of water.

Answer 2

.Aqueducts brought fresh water from the sources on the mountains not only to Rome, but also to other Roman towns in the Roman Empire. This meant that the supply of water could meet demand and that there was clean water, which helped both with hygiene and public health and the prosperity of the urban economy. Water was used for both domestic and civic purposes (drinking washing/cleaning, cooking and for the cattle markets) and for manufacturing purposes. Rome's first aqueduct (the Appia Claudia, built in 312 B.C.) supplied the cattle market by discharging water was at a low pressure into low-level basins. Higher level basins provided water for domestic use. Most people did not have running water in their apartments and collected water with buckets from higher basins and from fountains. The overflow was drained unto the Cloaca Maxima (Rome's main sewer) to flush it. From the 1st century B.C., the Romans started to build public baths which were seen which were seen as essential for hygiene and public health as most houses did not have running water. The baths made a massive use of water and were supplied by aqueducts at higher elevation. At this point, the flushing of the sewers was done with water discharged from the baths. Water was also used for some manufacturing processes and some aqueducts supplied manufacturing sites. They had steeper gradients (water was made to move by gravity) to deliver larger volumes of water and at a higher pressure.

The water of aqueducts was not used only for the towns. It was also used along their course towards the towns for farming. Farmers near the aqueducts could draw its water at pre-set times and in quantities which were specified by a license to limit rural consumption and prevent water shortages in the towns (farms were liable to use more water the cities) and ensure a fair distribution of water among farmers when it was scarcer and also most needed during the dry summers. However, sometimes there were illegal tapping. A fine balance had to be struck between urban and rural use of water because excessive shortages in water for farming could lead to shortages in grains which were needed to feed the urban population. Some very rich landowners sometimes built short private aqueducts to bring water from the springs to their farms.

Some aqueducts supplied the mines both to provide water for the slaves who worked in them and to power mining machinery

The Aqueducts were also needed to meet increases in the demand for water due to urban growth. Rome's first aqueduct was built when Rome's growth led to demand for water outstripping the local supply. Rome was near the Apennines (a mountain chain which run through the Italian peninsula) which provided plenty of accessible water sources. As Rome continued to grow, more aqueducts were built and in the end the city was supplied by eleven aqueducts which formed a network which totalled 475 kilometres (295 miles).. Over the centuries the Romans built hundreds of aqueducts. The ruins of some 770 aqueducts have been found in the geographical area which the Roman Empire covered. The longest aqueduct was the Valens aqueduct, which was over 250 km (156 miles) long and supplied the city of Constantinople

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Answer 3

They provided the means of moving clean water to cities, avoiding the diseases and plagues caused by contaminated water.