History of civil engineering

     Engineering has been an aspect of life since the beginning of human existence. The earliest practices of civil engineering could have started between 4000 and 2000. C. in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia when humans started to abandon a nomadic existence, creating the need for a shelter. During this time the transport began to increase its relevance, which led to the development of the wheel and navigation.

      Until the modern age there is no clear distinction between civil engineering and architecture, and the term engineer and architect suffered variations referring to the same person, even exchanged. The construction of the Pyramids of Egypt between 2700 and 2500 BC could be considered the first signs of large buildings. Other historic buildings include the system Qanat water management, the Parthenon by Ictino in Ancient Greece (447-438 BC.), The Appian Way by Roman engineers or the Great Wall of China in 220 a. C, or irrigation works in Anuradhapura. Of all the ancient civilizations perhaps the most developed in civil engineering was the Romans who were pioneers in building a network of roads, aqueducts, ports, bridges, dams and sewers.

     In the eighteenth century the term civil engineering was coined to incorporate all engineering for civilian use in opposition of military engineering (artillery, ballistics, building defenses ...). In 1747 the oldest school of civil engineering world is created, the École nationale des ponts et chaussées in Paris, which continues today. The first self-proclaimed civil engineer was John Smeaton who built the lighthouse Eddystone.4 6 In 1771 Smeaton and some colleagues formed the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers, a professional group that met daily to discuss their profession. Through these meetings, professional societies we know today were formed.

      In Spain it was considered necessary to create a body of specific engineers to take charge of public works, so the Official School of Civil Engineers Corps directed by Agustín de Betancourt was founded in 1802. At that time Mexico had already established first research institute specializing in engineering civil9 and in 1857 the teaching of civil engineering at the Academy of San Carlos based on European studies plans are instituted.