Canal
Canals are man-made
waterways, usually connecting existing
lakes,
rivers, or
oceans. There are two main types of canal:
irrigation canals for the delivery of water and
transportation canals for passage of goods and people. Some rivers have also been '
channelised' to make them navigable.
Smaller transportation canals can carry
barges or
narrowboats, while
ship canals can accommodate sea-going
ships and may connect one ocean to another.
|
The Grand Canal of China at Suzhou |
The oldest-known canals were built in
Mesopotamia circa
4000 BC. The
Indus Valley Civilization in
Pakistan and
North India (from circa
2600 BC) had the first canal
irrigation system in the world. [
1] The longest canal of ancient times was the
Grand Canal of China. It is 1794 kilometers (1115 miles) long and was built to carry the
Emperor Yang Guang between
Beijing and
Hangzhou. The project began in
605, although the oldest sections of the canal may have existed since circa
486 BC. In places it is 30 m (100 ft) wide.
 |
Rio de la Verona: a rio or small canal in Venice. |
Canals are so deeply identified with
Venice that many canal cities have been nicknamed "the Venice of..." The city is built on marshy islands, with wooden piles supporting the buildings, so that here it is not so much the waterways which are man-made, as the land. The islands have a long history of settlement, and by the 12th century Venice was a powerful
city state.
Amsterdam was built in a similar way, with buildings on wooden piles. The pace of draining of fenland and
polder in the
Low Countries quickened in the 14th century and canalization made the village of Amsterdam a port. It became a city around 1300.
In Europe and then in the young United States, inland canals preceded the development of
railroads during the earliest phase of the
Industrial Revolution; some canals were later drained and used as railroad
rights-of-way. Navigable canals reached into previously isolated areas and brought them in touch with the world economy. The
Erie Canal, for instance, opened up a connection from the populated Northeast to the fertile Great Plains.
The oldest canal built for industrial purposes in North America is
Mother Brook in
Dedham, MA. It was constructed in 1639 to provide water power for mills.
Lowell, Massachusetts, considered to be "The Cradle of the American Industrial Revolution," has 6 miles of canals that provided waterpower and a means of transportation for the city.
Competition from the railroad network made many canals obsolete for commercial transportation, and many fell into decay.
See also: History of the British canal systemA movement that began in Britain and France to use the picturesque early industrial canals for pleasure boats has spurred rehabilitation of stretches of historic canals.
Canals have found another use in the 21st century, as
wayleaves for
fibre optic telecommunications networks.
For a time in the early 20th century, it was believed that there were
many canals on Mars.
*
List of waterways*
Grand Canal of China - Longest Canal
*
Birmingham Canal Navigations- UK
*
Birmingham and Fazeley Canal - UK
*
Canals of Ireland*
List of canals in the United States*
Canals of the United Kingdom*
Klong*
Suez Canal*
Panama Canal*
Corinth Canal*
Cape Coral, Florida*
Venice*
Amsterdam*
Saimaa Canal -
Lappeenranta,
Finland*
Welland Canal - Central Canada
*
Saint Lawrence Seaway -
Quebec,
Ontario,
Canada*
Erie Canal -
New York,
U.S.*
C & O Canal -
U.S.*
Rideau Canal -
Ottawa,
Ontario,
Canada*
Shubie Canal -
Nova Scotia,
Canada*
Lachine Canal -
Montreal, Quebec,
Canada*
Water transportation*
Aqueduct*
Canal lock*
Horse-drawn boat*
Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project*
Sluice *
Trade route*
Water bridge*
Waterway restoration*
Weigh lock*
"Canals and Navigable Rivers" by James S. Aber, Emporia State University*
National Canal Museum Contains many resources related to navigable waterways of the Eastern United States, based outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
*
The River Wey and Wey Navigations Community Site — a non-commercial site of over 120,000 words all about the Wey Navigations and includes information and images related to canals, narrowboats and lock operation
nds-nl:Knoal (woaterweg)zh-yue:運河
