Puente de los Franceses (Madrid) Puente de los Franceses (Madrid) The Puente de los Franceses (Bridge of the Frenchmen) railway viaduct is located in Madrid, Spain. Comprising five semi-circular brick skew arches, it was built in the second half of the 19th century to carry the railway line from the north (Madrid - Venta de Baños - Irun) across the River Manzanares. The bridge is named after the nationality of the engineers who devised the project, who were of French origin. The bridge is also known as the French Bridge. The bridge was built between 1860 and 1862, along with other construction work on the
New Madrid County, Missouri located in the region. This area was under Spanish rule following France's cession of Louisiana after being defeated in the Seven Years' War. The Spanish named the district after Madrid, the capital of Spain. The county includes a large part of the New Madrid Fault that produced the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes. This zone remains geologically active, and had continued to produce smaller earthquakes with some frequency. French Canadians from New France landed in this area in 1781 and established the first European settlement in the present county at New Madrid along the Mississippi River. Later France ceded this area