00:00Did you know why there are no bridges across the Amazon River?
00:03Look, the Amazon is one of the longest rivers in the world,
00:06stretching up to 7,100 kilometers and crossing through almost all of South America from west to east.
00:12But no one has ever built a bridge along its entire length.
00:16This means that Brazilians cannot cross the country from south to north entirely by land.
00:20They have to rely on ferries or take long detours.
00:23The thing is that the Amazon flows through tropical rainforests, where it rains most of the year.
00:28This causes the river to overflow its banks regularly.
00:31The Amazon's width ranges from 1 to 10 kilometers,
00:34but during the rainy season, it can expand to 50 kilometers.
00:38Moreover, scientists recently discovered an underground river beneath the Amazon,
00:42the Hamza River, which makes the soil unstable for building bridges.
00:46And finally, the region is lightly populated,
00:48with no major highways or transportation hubs along the Amazon.
00:52Locals have long adapted to this reality by using water or air transportation.
00:56That's why building expensive bridges in this region just doesn't make sense.
