As soon as they arrived in Europe in prehistoric times, mankind used waterways to penetrate virgin nature. The banks of rivers and lakes, free of vegetation, were often less difficult to navigate than forests of varying degrees of impenetrability. In fact, the first farmers settled on coastlines that did not need to be cleared to set up their villages on stilts. It was also in these ancient times that the first vehicle was invented: the monoxyle canoe1. This boat was an extraordinary success worldwide, and lasted even in Europe until the end of the 19th century.
19th century. The last pirogue used in Switzerland by a fisherman on Lake Aegeri was recovered from its owner by the Swiss Transport Museum in Lucerne in 1923.
