page_title: Living root bridge
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Living root bridge / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Rangthylliang 50+ meter living root bridge
context_page_description: A living root bridge is a type of simple suspension bridge formed of living plant roots by tree shaping. They are common in the southern part of the Northeast Indian state of Meghalaya. They are handmade from the aerial roots of rubber fig trees by the Khasi and Jaintia peoples of the mountainous terrain along the southern part of the Shillong Plateau. Most of the bridges grow on steep slopes of subtropical moist broadleaf forest between 50m and 1150m above sea level. As long as the tree from which it is formed remains healthy, the roots in the bridge can naturally grow thick and strengthen. New roots can grow throughout the tree's life and must be pruned or manipulated to strengthen the bridge. Without active care, many bridges have decayed or grown wild, becoming unusable. Root bridges have also been observed in the Indian state of Nagaland.
  Living root bridges have also been created in Indonesia at Jembatan akar on the island of Sumatra, and in the Banten province of Java, by the Baduy people.
context_section_description: The Khasi people do not know when or how the tradition of living root bridges started. The earliest written record of Sohra's (Cherrapunji's) living root bridges is by Lieutenant Henry Yule, who expressed astonishment about them in the 1844 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
caption: This living root bridge is the longest known example.
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