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There Are Zero Bridges Across The Amazon. Here Is Why
A fun fact that scratches the brain
Here is a fun fact to stick in the back of your mind for trivia night or to use as an interesting ice breaker: the Amazon River has no bridges. None. Zero. Zilch. That is in spite of the fact that the Amazon is 4,345 miles long.
The Amazon has a river basin that covers 2.7 million square miles. It has the highest flow and discharge rates out of any river on Earth. It runs through multiple countries and dumps into the Atlantic Ocean. In all of that there is not a single bridge that crosses the river at any point. You cannot drive over the Amazon River, even if you wanted to.
Why is it that the Amazon has no bridges when other smaller rivers have dozens or even hundreds?
Geography and Economics
The Amazon River is one of the most remote rivers on Earth. It plunges from a source that is nestle high in the mountains at nearly 18,000 feet and then runs through one of the largest and thickest jungles found anywhere. The result is, there are not very many paved modern roads that run along the Amazon.
