The History of Mobile Homes

The History of Mobile Homes A  mobile home is a  prefabricated  structure built in a factory on a permanently attached chassis before being transported to a  site (either by being towed or on a trailer). Used as permanent  homes or for holiday and temporary accommodation, they are usually left permanently or semi-permanently in one place. However, they can be moved since property may be required to relocate from time to time for legal reasons. Mobile  homes  share the same historic origins as  travel trailers. Today the two are very different in size and furnishings, with travel trailers being used primarily as temporary or vacation homes. Behind the cosmetic work fitted at installation to hide the base, there are strong trailer frames, axles, wheels, and tow-hitches. The Earliest Moveable Homes The first examples of mobile homes can be traced back to the roaming bands of gypsies  who traveled with their horse-drawn mobile homes as far back as the 1500s. In America, the first mobile homes were built in the 1870s. These were movable beach-front properties  built in the Outer Banks region of North Carolina. The homes were moved by teams of horses. Mobile homes as we know them today came about in 1926 with automobile-pulled trailers or Trailer Coaches. These were designed as a home away from home during camping trips. The trailers later evolved into mobile homes that were brought into demand after World War II ended. Veterans came home needing housing and found dwellings to be in short supply. Mobile homes provided cheap and quickly built housing for the veterans and their families (the beginning of the baby boom) and being mobile allowed the families to travel where the jobs were. Mobile Homes Get Bigger In 1943, trailers averaged a width of eight  feet and were more than 20 feet in length. They had up to three to four separate sleeping sections, but no bathrooms. But by 1948, lengths had gone up to 30 feet and bathrooms were introduced. Mobile homes continued to grow in length and widths such as doublewide. In June of 1976, the United States Congress passed the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Act (42 U.S.C.), which assured that all homes were built to tough national standards. From Mobile Home to Manufactured Housing In 1980, congress approved changing the term mobile home to manufactured home. Manufactured homes are built in a factory and must conform to a federal building code. A  tornado might cause minor damage to a site-built home, but it could do significant damage to a factory-built home, especially an older model or one that is not properly secured. Seventy mile-per-hour winds can destroy a mobile home in a matter of minutes. Many brands offer optional hurricane straps, which can be used to tie the home to anchors embedded in the ground. Mobile Home Parks Mobile homes are often situated in land-lease communities known as  trailer parks. These communities allow homeowners to rent space on which to place a home. In addition to providing space, the site often provides basic utilities such as water, sewer, electricity, natural gas and other amenities such as mowing, garbage removal, community rooms, pools, and playgrounds. There are thousands of trailer parks in the United States. Although most parks appeal to meeting basic housing needs, some communities specialize towards certain segments of the market such as senior citizens.

A Look At Sumer in Ancient History

A Look At Sumer in Ancient History In about 7200 B.C., a settlement, Catal Hoyuk (Çatal Hà ¼yà ¼k), developed in Anatolia, south-central Turkey. About 6000 Neolithic people lived there, in fortifications of linked, rectangular, mud-brick buildings. The inhabitants mainly hunted or gathered their food, but they also raised animals and stored surplus grains. Until recently, however, it was thought the earliest civilizations began somewhat further south, in Sumer. Sumer was the site of what is sometimes called an urban revolution affecting the entire Near East, lasting about a millennium, and leading to changes in government, technology, the economy, and culture, as well as urbanization, according to Van de Mieroop A History of the Ancient Neareast. Sumers Natural Resources For civilization to develop, the land must be fertile enough to support an expanding population. Not only did early populations need a soil rich in nutrients, but also water. Egypt and Mesopotamia (literally, the land between rivers), blessed with just such life-sustaining rivers, are sometimes referred to together as the Fertile Crescent. The 2 rivers Mesopotamia lay between were the Tigris and the Euphrates. Sumer came to be the name of the southern area near where the Tigris and Euphrates emptied into the Persian Gulf. Population Growth in Sumer When the Sumerians arrived in the 4th millennium B.C. they found two groups of people, the one referred to by archaeologists as Ubaidians and the other, an unidentified Semitic people- possibly. This is a point of contention Samuel Noah Kramer discusses in New Light on the Early History of the Ancient Near East, American Journal of Archaeology, (1948), pp. 156-164. Van de Mieroop says the rapid growth of population in southern Mesopotamia may have been the result of semi-nomadic people in the area settling down. In the next couple of centuries, the Sumerians developed technology and trade, while they increased in population. By perhaps 3800 they were the dominant group in the area. At least a dozen city-states developed, including Ur (with a population of maybe 24,000- like most population figures from the ancient world, this is a guess), Uruk, Kish, and Lagash. Sumers Self-Sufficiency Gave Way to Specialization The expanding urban area was made up of a variety of ecological niches, out of which came fishermen, farmers, gardeners, hunters, and herdsmen [Van de Mieroop]. This put an end to self-sufficiency and instead prompted specialization and trade, which was facilitated by authorities within a city. The authority was based on shared religious beliefs and centered on the temple complexes. Sumers Trade Led to Writing With an increase in trade, the Sumerians needed to keep records. The Sumerians may have learned the rudiments of writing from their predecessors, but they enhanced it. Their counting marks, made on clay tablets, were wedge-shaped indentations known as cuneiform (from cuneus, meaning wedge). The Sumerians also developed monarchy, the wooden wheel to help draw their carts, the plow for agriculture, and the oar for their ships. In time, another Semitic group, the Akkadians, migrated from the Arabian Peninsula to the area of the Sumerian city-states. The Sumerians gradually came under the political control of the Akkadians, while simultaneously the Akkadians adopted elements of the Sumerian law, government, religion, literature, and writing. SourcesMost of this introductory article was written in 2000. It has been updated with material from Van de Mieroop, but still depends mainly on the old sources, some of which are no longer available online: (http://loki.stockton.edu/~gilmorew/consorti/1anear.htm) The Middle East Inner Asia: A World Wide Web Research Institute(art-arena.com/iran1.html) MapBlack and white map shows the Near East from 6000-4000 B.C.(wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MESO/SUMER.HTM) The SumeriansClear, well-written history of the Sumerians, from Richard Hookers World Cultures Site.(eurekanet.com/~fesmitha/h1/ch01.htm) Genesis in SumerFrank Smithas chapter on the Sumerians includes information on education, religion, slavery, the role of women, and more. [Now at Sumer]