Riverboats have been used for transportation and luxury vacations since the invention of steam technology in the 1700s. They were also used for gambling and are still used today for transportation in cities like Venice and New York.
Riverboats are water vessels used solely for traveling up and down the course of a river. Before the 18th century, river boats were fairly rudimentary canoes and rafts. With the invention of steam technology during the 1700s and 1800s, river navigation was completely transformed. Large paddle wheel steamboats began to populate rivers around the world, being used not only for transporting people and goods, but also as luxury vessels on which people vacationed. Over time, many river boats switched from steam power to more powerful diesel engines. Ferries could also be considered river boats, although they travel from one side of a river to the other, rather than up and down.
In the early 19th century, John Fitch and Robert Fulton introduced steamboat technology to the US, and a new type of riverboat was born. Before long, large multi-tiered steam-wheeled paddle boats populated rivers across the US, such as the Mississippi, Missouri, Colorado, and Sacramento rivers. Steamboats were quickly adopted on other rivers around the world, such as the Yangtze River in China and the Murray River in Australia.
Steamboats offered larger cargo space than had been available before, and were therefore naturally used to transport various goods up and down the waterways. Of course, they were also used for public transport. Steamships were also used as luxury cruise ships for holiday travelers, in the same way that many ocean liners had the split role of cargo ships, as well as luxury getaways.
During the 19th century, the casino industry became deeply intertwined with riverboats, and riverboat gambling became commonplace. In many cases, the casinos did not actually operate while the boat was moving, but rather operated out of stationary boats along the rivers. In America especially, many river cities became famous as gambling centers, so much so that river gambling, and the infamous gamblers it attracted, became part of American folklore. Riverside casinos still operate today in regions of countries where gambling is legal and regulated.
Many cities around the world have long used river boats as a means of getting around town. Perhaps no place is more popular for this than Venice, Italy, where canoe-shaped boats called gondolas carry people through waterways that crisscross the city. There are no cars in Venice, so gondolas and waterways offer a unique substitute for roads. Other cities along the waterways, such as New York City in the United States, make use of water taxis. Today, river boats are used as much as ever, only now the range of boats is much vaster. For example, one could still hop on an old-fashioned paddle-wheel boat or take a faster ride on a diesel-powered speedboat.
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