When and where was the first time moveable bridge?
score:9
The most likely early example of a movable bridge (assuming you allow pontoon bridges) allowing a ship to pass either under or through is Xerxes' pontoon bridge from 480 BC and is cited by Herodotus. Between this and the old London bridge completed in 1209, there is little that one can confidently say qualifies.
With Xerxes' Pontoon Bridges (480 BC) the bridge builders left (Hdt. 7.36.2)
a narrow opening to sail through in the line of fifty-oared ships and triremes, that so whoever wanted to could sail by small craft to the Pontus or out of it. After doing this, they stretched the cables from the land, twisting them taut with wooden windlasses; they did not as before keep the two kinds apart, but assigned for each bridge two cables of flax and four of papyrus.
Unfortunately, Herodotus doesn't provide much detail on this. There were, apparently, three openings but how they were 'constructed' is unclear.
This 2005 University of South Africa master's thesis, From the Scamander to Syracuse: Studies in Ancient Logistics (pdf), proposes that ships passed under the bridge thus:
All types of sailing ships of the time had masts which could be easily unstepped. A passing cargo ship would have needed headroom of two metres at the most with its mast unstepped in order to pass under the bridge cables. With that in mind, it is suggested that the simplest solution to the problem would have been for four triremes on each side of each “gap”, that is, 24 altogether, to have been modified by fitting baulks about twenty metres long lengthwise, raised by 25, 50, and 75 centimetres and one metre successively above the deck level, to lift the road over the cables by a gentle slope to about 2 metres above water level which would have been sufficient for a merchant ship to pass underneath.
On the other hand, Otis Ellis Hovey's Movable Bridges (1926) states that parts of the pontoon could be pulled aside to allow ships through:
at three places boats were lashed together and arranged so that they could be swung aside to allow ships to pass through the openings. These appear to have been genuine pontoon draw spans.
With the Romans favouring fixed arch bridges and with evidence from China inconclusive, Hovey then adds
...it is difficult to trace the use of movable structures for several centuries after the beginning of the Christian era.
This brings us to Old London Bridge (cited by the OP and also by Dijkgraaf in a comment). Started by Henry II in 1176 and completed in 1209 during the reign of his youngest son John, it survived 600 years; a
particular feature of Old London Bridge was the drawbridge which was sited near the middle of the bridge.
"Detail from a 1632 oil painting, View of London Bridge, by Claude de Jongh." Note the movable (drawbridge) centre section. Source: Londonist
This allowed tall ships to pass through and the bridge was also notable for the houses and shops on it, though it was not unique in this respect. Interestingly,
Old London Bridge reached its pinnacle of fame in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Tourists came from all over Europe to admire what was considered a wonder of the world.
Perhaps the centre drawbridge was partly a reason the bridge being 'a wonder of the world'; there is certainly scant evidence for other bridges across rivers with a movable section for ships to pass through which dated from the high medieval period.
Very borderline cases
Hovey's Movable Bridges has a section on Ancient Movable Bridges. He covers ancient Egypt, but makes no mention of ships being able to pass under and there does not appear to be any evidence that such bridges existed. At most (citing Edward H. Knight),
the Egyptians built no permanent bridges across the Nile, but were familiar with framing trestle work, and with pontoon draw bridges.
For the 6th century BC Chaldean bridge mentioned here, there is no evidence that it was movable; it may have had a removable section to allow ships to pass, but we can't say for certain.
Hovey also cites Herodotus on Queen Nitocris of Babylon's bridge (circa. 460 BC) across the Euphrates which had "movable platforms". The purpose of these, according to Herodotus, was to prevent robbers crossing the bridge at night.
Finally, Wikipedia's Bascule Bridges article says these date back to ancient times but provides no sources, and nor is there any mention of ships passing through or under.
Upvote:1
Question:
when and where is the first time moveable bridges appear in history.
Egypt 2nd Millennium BC, and we also know of one in Chaldea in the Middle East in the 6th Century BC. Then such navigable bridges disappeared until the middle ages. They began becoming popular, even common place after the Industrial Revolution with mass produced steel which was stronger and lighter than iron or stone and with the invention of engines capable of moving such structures.
Movable Bridges Types, Design and History
Moveable bridge is a bridge that can change position (and even shape in some cases) to allow for passage of boats below. This type of bridge has a lower cost of building because it has no high piers and long approaches but its use stops the road traffic when the bridge is open for river traffic.The oldest know movable bridge was built in the 2nd millennium BC in the ancient Egypt. History also knows for one early movable bridge built in Chaldea in the Middle East in 6th century BC. Since then they were almost forgotten until Middle Ages when they again appeared in Europe. Leonardo da Vinci designed and built designed and built bascule bridges in 15th century. He also made designs and built models of swing and a retractable bridges.
Source:
More post
- 📝 What was the nature and extent of forced or coerced sterilization in Puerto Rico from the 1940s-1970s?
- 📝 Did the historic events behind the film The Big Short happen under Glass Steagall?
- 📝 Did the Romans leave any technical instruction manuals behind?
- 📝 Has Section 2 of the 14th amendment ever been enforced?
- 📝 When did Josef Wissarionowitsch become "sexy" Stalin?
- 📝 Was the Second Industrial Revolution directly related to the first?
- 📝 What do they do with corpses after a battle?
- 📝 Were there inns and hostels in medieval Europe?
- 📝 What is the difference between a professional historian and an amateur?
- 📝 What was the maximum percent of the Soviet territory that was under Nazi control?
- 📝 Why were troops with bayonets often effective against enemy cavalry even though the bayonet was a "secondary" weapon?
- 📝 How did China become so **populous**?
- 📝 What are the "blue books" of Mr. Balfour?
- 📝 Why does German money from the 1940s not bear Nazi symbols?
- 📝 What was Hunanese cuisine like before chili peppers were imported to China?
- 📝 Is there any country where the founder of the nation is no longer respected?
- 📝 Were prisons in Maine mixed race in 1947?
- 📝 Did the Axis engage in trade with other countries during the war?
- 📝 Compulsion for Germany to accept the Treaty of Versailles?
- 📝 Is modern warfare inherently linked to sexual violence?
- 📝 What makes studying science different from studying the history of science?
- 📝 When was the modern manuscript for the Torah agreed upon?
- 📝 What were the laws on suicide in the Third Reich?
- 📝 Was the Wehrmacht a mechanized army?
- 📝 What led to election violence in Kenya in 2007?
- 📝 What was the total megatonnage of all munitions expended in World War 2?
- 📝 Did the Soviets cooperate with the Americans in catching criminals in post-war Vienna?
- 📝 Did anything come from Sparta, besides fitness and war?
- 📝 Was the attempt to take Stalingrad a distraction to the original objectives of the German Sixth Army during Case Blue in 1942?
- 📝 How and why was the boundary between West and East Berlin decided to be where it was?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 When and where was the first time moveable bridge?
- 📝 When and where was the first naval gunnery school/college established?
- 📝 When and where were the first coins made showing the currency or a face value?
- 📝 When was the first time Rome was mentioned in outside records (and specifically, in Greek ones)?
- 📝 When was the concept of the "border wall" between the United States and Mexico first proposed?
- 📝 When was King John of England given the name 'Dollheart', and who first used it?
- 📝 When and where was rape first criminalised independently from adultery?
- 📝 Where and when was the shortest calendar day in history, due to DST and calendar changes, etc?
- 📝 When was the last time period where one could travel by steam powered locomotive across the United States today?
- 📝 When were both minuscule and majuscule letters used for the first time in the same Latin manuscript?
- 📝 When and where did it first became usual that the ID Card holder signed his card?
- 📝 Who conducted the first "straw poll" in U.S. election politics, and when was it conducted?
- 📝 Why is Musselburgh considered the first golf course, when St. Andrews was where golf was first played?
- 📝 When was the first time lower-class people had a reasonable chance of having a fair trial?
- 📝 When and where arose the first civilization?
- 📝 When and where was the term "nigra" used and what was its relation to "nigger"?
- 📝 Was there a time when George Washington discovered some of his soldiers absolutely refused to swear loyalty and obedience to the Continental Congress?
- 📝 When was the term "Dravida" first used and what is the context with which it was presented?
- 📝 When was the first time that concrete was used in Indian Subcontinent?
- 📝 When and where was William the Conqueror baptized or christened?
- 📝 When was the term for WW2 first used and was it more popular in, say, US before Europe?
- 📝 Where did Hitler get the funds to invest in economic development programs such as the autobahn when the German economy was in a depression?
- 📝 How and when was the modern company ownership structure invented?
- 📝 When was the last time a reigning monarch personally participated in battle?
- 📝 When and why was the samurai class abolished?
- 📝 What / When was the first use of concentration camps in history?
- 📝 How and why was the boundary between West and East Berlin decided to be where it was?
- 📝 What was the shortest time between a historical event occuring and a museum opening dedicated to said event?
- 📝 When and where was salt as valuable as gold?
- 📝 When was the American War of Independence first called a 'Revolution'?