Breathing bridge

Last updated

A breathing bridge is a type of living root bridge handmade from the aerial roots of banyan trees from the region of Amazonas (Peru).

Nukak Makú indigenous tribes have been modelling the roots of these trees from centuries to cross above the streams that spontaneously appear during the wet season. They first grow the trees along the river banks and after ten years when the roots are big enough they start assembling the bridge. Such a long-term project cannot be completed in a lifetime, so the knowledge is passed over generations. Some of these bridges will live for 500 years spanning over 100 feet (30 meters). Sustainable architecture that will live and grow for many generations. It is one of the few worldwide ecological examples where human benefits themselves coping with nature without provoking any damage to the natural realm. [1] [2] [3] [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Root</span> Basal organ of a vascular plant

In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the surface of the soil, but roots can also be aerial or aerating, that is, growing up above the ground or especially above water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tuber</span> Storage organ in plants

Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants, derived from stems or roots. Tubers help plants perennate, provide energy and nutrients, and are a means of asexual reproduction.

<i>Armillaria</i> Genus of fungi

Armillaria is a genus of fungi that includes the A. mellea species known as honey fungi that live on trees and woody shrubs. It includes about 10 species formerly categorized summarily as A. mellea. Armillarias are long-lived and form the largest living fungi in the world. The largest known organism covers more than 3.4 square miles (8.8 km2) in Oregon's Malheur National Forest and is estimated to be 2,500 years old. Some species of Armillaria display bioluminescence, resulting in foxfire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arboriculture</span> Management and study of trees and other woody plants

Arboriculture is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants. The science of arboriculture studies how these plants grow and respond to cultural practices and to their environment. The practice of arboriculture includes cultural techniques such as selection, planting, training, fertilization, pest and pathogen control, pruning, shaping, and removal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guaviare Department</span> Department of Colombia

Guaviare is a department of Colombia. It is in the southern central region of the country. Its capital is San José del Guaviare. Guaviare was created on July 4, 1991, by the new Political Constitution of Colombia. Up until that point, it was a national territory that operated as a commissariat, segregated from territory of the then Commissariat of Vaupés on December 23, 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perennial</span> Plant that lives for more than two years

In botany, a perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widely used to distinguish plants with little or no woody growth from trees and shrubs, which are also technically perennials. Notably, it is estimated that 94% of plant species fall under the category of perennials, underscoring the prevalence of plants with lifespans exceeding two years in the botanical world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taproot</span> Dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally

A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproot is a storage organ so well developed that it has been cultivated as a vegetable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadahup languages</span> Daw language family of South America

The Nadahup languages, also known as Makú (Macú) or Vaupés–Japurá, form a small language family in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. The name Makú is pejorative, being derived from an Arawakan word meaning "without speech". Nadahup is an acronym of the constituent languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arutani–Sape languages</span> Proposed language family

Arutani–Sape, also known as Awake–Kaliana or Kalianan, is a proposed language family that includes two of the most poorly documented languages in South America, both of which are now extinct. They are at best only distantly related. Kaufman (1990) found a connection convincing, but Migliazza & Campbell (1988) maintained that there is no evidence for linking them. The two languages are,

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nukak</span> Indigenous people in Colombia

The Nukak people live between the Guaviare and Inírida rivers, in the depths of the tropical humid forest, on the fringe of the Amazon basin, in Guaviare Department, Republic of Colombia. They are nomadic hunter-gatherers with seasonal nomadic patterns and practice small-scale shifting horticulture. They were classified as "uncontacted people" until 1981, and have since lost half of their population primarily to disease. Part of their territory has been used by coca growers, ranchers, and other settlers, as well as being occupied by guerrillas, army and paramilitaries. Responses to this crisis include protests, requests for assimilation, and the suicide of leader Maw-be'. An estimated 210–250 Nukak people live in provisional settlements at San José del Guaviare, while about as many live nomadically in the Nukak Reservation (Resguardo).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tree shaping</span> Use of living trees to create structures and art

Tree shaping uses living trees and other woody plants as the medium to create structures and art. There are a few different methods used by the various artists to shape their trees, which share a common heritage with other artistic horticultural and agricultural practices, such as pleaching, bonsai, espalier, and topiary, and employing some similar techniques. Most artists use grafting to deliberately induce the inosculation of living trunks, branches, and roots, into artistic designs or functional structures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basal shoot</span> Shoot growing from an adventitious bud

Basal shoots, root sprouts, adventitious shoots, and suckers are words for various kinds of shoots that grow from adventitious buds on the base of a tree or shrub, or from adventitious buds on its roots. Shoots that grow from buds on the base of a tree or shrub are called basal shoots; these are distinguished from shoots that grow from adventitious buds on the roots of a tree or shrub, which may be called root sprouts or suckers. A plant that produces root sprouts or runners is described as surculose. Water sprouts produced by adventitious buds may occur on the above-ground stem, branches or both of trees and shrubs. Suckers are shoots arising underground from the roots some distance from the base of a tree or shrub.

This page provides a glossary of plant morphology. Botanists and other biologists who study plant morphology use a number of different terms to classify and identify plant organs and parts that can be observed using no more than a handheld magnifying lens. This page provides help in understanding the numerous other pages describing plants by their various taxa. The accompanying page—Plant morphology—provides an overview of the science of the external form of plants. There is also an alphabetical list: Glossary of botanical terms. In contrast, this page deals with botanical terms in a systematic manner, with some illustrations, and organized by plant anatomy and function in plant physiology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nukak language</span> Endangered indigenous language of Colombia

The Nukak language is a language of uncertain classification, perhaps part of the macrofamily Puinave-Maku. It is very closely related to Kakwa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kakwa language</span> Indigenous language of Colombia and Brazil

The Cacua language, also known as Kakua or Kakwa, is an indigenous language spoken by a few hundred people in Colombia and Brazil. There are many monolinguals, especially children. Apart from being close to or a dialect of Nukak, its classification is uncertain.

Maku or Maco is a pejorative term referring to several hunter-gatherer peoples of the upper Amazon, derived from an Arawakan term ma-aku "do not speak / without speech". Nimuendajú (1950), for example, notes six peoples of Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil that are known as 'Maku'. In linguistic literature, the term refers primarily to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tree</span> Perennial woody plant with elongated trunk

In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are usable as lumber or plants above a specified height. In wider definitions, the taller palms, tree ferns, bananas, and bamboos are also trees.

Carlos Rendón Zipagauta is a Colombian-Belgian documentary filmmaker. Rendón Zipagauta studied film and screenwriting in Belgium, where he lived for 16 years. He began as assistant then co-director to Jean Christophe Lamy. He returned to Colombia to shoot documentaries. His 1993 film Nukak Makú, about the indigenous Nukak peoples, won festival prizes in France and Belgium enabling also EU grants to make further documentaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Living root bridge</span> Type of pedestrian bridge made with live trees

Living root bridges are a kind of tree shaping in which rivers are spanned by architecture formed out of the roots of ficus plants. Due to their being made from living, growing, trees, they "show a very wide variety of structural typologies, with various aspects of particular bridges resembling characteristics of suspension bridges, cable-stayed bridges, arches, trusses, and simply-supported beams." They are common in the Indian state of Meghalaya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baubotanik</span> Building term

Baubotanik is a building method in which architectural structures are created through the interaction of technical joints and plant growth. The term entails the practice of designing and building living structures using living plants. In this regard, living and non-living elements are intertwined in such a way that they grow together into plant-technical composite structures.

References

  1. NUKAK: Ethnoarchaeology of an Amazonian People ISBN   1598742299
  2. FRANKY, Carlos; Gabriel CABRERA; Dany MAHECHA 1995: Demografía y movilidad socio-espacial de los Nukak. Fundación Gaia, Bogotá D.C.
  3. GUTIÉRREZ, Ruth 1996: "Manejo de los recursos naturales (fauna y flora) por los Nukak"; trabajo de grado. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, mec.
  4. SILVERWOOD-COPE, Peter L. 1990: Os makú, povo caçador do nordeste da Amazônia. Editora Universidade de Brasília.- ISBN   85-230-0275-8