On this page, you will learn how the layout of the Internet is redundant (more than one path from here to there) in order to ensure reliability.
Given the enormous amount of data traveling around, the Internet needs to be reliable. We have achieved this by building many redundant connections into the physical systems of the Internet. Wherever information is going, there is more than one way to get there, so that if part of the Internet fails, the rest remains connected even if the failed part is in the usual path from one place to another. This increases the Internet's fault tolerance (ability to work around problems). And it also helps the Internet scale (expand) to more devices and people.
A redundant system is one that has back-up elements in case one part fails.
Fault tolerance is the ability of a system to work around problems.
Scalability is the ability of the Internet to keep working as it grows.