ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Flatboat

Imagine you have a really big box that can float on water. This box is called a flatboat. It's like a giant raft that can carry people or things across a river or a lake.

A flatboat is made of wood planks or logs that are tied together tightly. It doesn't have a motor or sails to move it, so you have to use a stick or a paddle to push it forward.

Flatboats were used a long, long time ago. People would load them up with things like crops or goods they wanted to sell, and then float down the river to their destination.

Flatboats were also used by pioneers when they were traveling westward. Instead of buying expensive wagons, they would build their own flatboats and use them to transport their belongings down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

So that's a flatboat, a giant floating box that can transport people and things across water without an engine or sails, just by pushing it with a stick or a paddle.