Who Invented Bridges

An article by Peter Pierce    Comments Off

Bridges have reduced gaps and have eased many distances. The first inventor of bridge was probably Mother Nature itself. Initially in primitive era, fallen trees, stones across rivers and other water bodies have helped humans to cover many distances. The strength and endurance of a bridge depends totally on its support at both ends. Later man improved the ways to use fallen logs and branches to form the first man made bridges. The first man made bridges belonged to the Greek civilization. The first mentionable bridge still in use is the Arkadiko Bridge of Peloponnese of Greece which was used for chariots.

Another civilization that boasts of excellent early architecture in bridges is the Romanian Civilization. Romans were the first to use manmade materials like cement in making arch bridges that are known in history to be extremely strong. India too has been credited with creation of early bridges. Many archeological remains of the Mauryan dynasty show that some form of bridges existed under the ruler Chandragupta. The first hanging and suspension bridges were from South America in late 15t century. Another old stone bridge was Zhaozhou Bridge in China which was made somewhere around 605 AD. Wooden bridges came much later in the history of bridges.