Page 31 - Global Project Management Handbook

THE EVOLUTION OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT 1-13

and freight over winding tracks and through long tunnels between Argentina and
Chile.
● The exploratory journeys of Ponce de Leon (1540–1621) resulted in the discovery and
claiming of Florida for Spain. Ponce de Leon accompanied Columbus on his second
voyage to America in 1593 and stayed in the Dominican Republic as its governor.

SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS OF HISTORICAL PROJECTS

Projects of the past have been challenging and have contributed to the well-being of mil-
lions of people by creating changes that advanced society. In some instances, the project
was a response to a situation such as a natural disaster that threatened lives. Change
through making the best use of resources is project management. The resulting benefits
throughout history have been delivered in the form of new or enhanced projects, valuable
services, and improved organizational processes.
Projects have ranged in length throughout antiquity from perhaps a single day to hun-
dreds of years. A battle fought in a single day could change the future of generations.
Some of the effects of projects include
● Change or reactions to change
● New or enhanced products, services, or organizational processes
● Varied degrees of risk and uncertainty
● Benefits and/or destructive results
● Modest to spectacular results
● Creation of something that did not exist previously
● Integrated results into the strategic or operational initiatives of the owner
● Social progress (or lack of progress)

MORE MODERN PROJECTS

Lewis and Clark Expedition (1803–1806)
In 1801, President Jefferson long had an interest in exploration of the western area of
America leading to the Pacific. What helped to prompt Jefferson to dispatch the first
American exploration to the Pacific was the publication of a small book detailing the first
British expedition to reach the Pacific from Canada in the late eighteenth century. Rival
Canadian competitors in the fur trade, the Hudson Bay Company and the Northwest
Company were striving to dominate the fur trade in what now is western Canada and the
western United States. In one of the trading posts in what is now Alberta, Canada,
Alexander Mackenzie, a member of the Northwest Company began to consider how far it
might be to the Pacific coast, which had been explored by James Cook, George
Vancouver, and other English seamen. Mackenzie followed the river named for him, and
the river took him to the shores of the Arctic Ocean. In a journey in 1792, he had better
success by following the Peace River and its tributaries, reaching the Continental Divide.
From the western slope of the Rockies, he struck the upper reaches of the Fraser River,
hoping that it would lead him to the coast. He found that the canyons of the Fraser River