Canal

For other uses, see Canal (disambiguation).

Canals are man-made waterways, usually connecting existing lakes, rivers, or oceans. Irrigation canals are man-made waterways for the delivery of water and preceded the use of Transportation canals used by barges or narrowboats on smaller canals, and by ships on ship canals that connect to the ocean.

The oldest-known canals were built in Mesopotamia, c. 4000 BC. Ancient canals in the West were dwarfed by the Grand Canal of China, the longest canal built in ancient times. 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 to the fertile Great Plains. 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. Canals are so deeply identified with Venice that many cities that have canals used as waterways have been called "the Venice of..."

Some rivers have also been 'canalised' to make them navigable. Competition from the railroad network made many canals obsolete for commercial transportation, and many fell into decay. A movement that began in Great 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.

Miscellaneous

For a time in the early 20th century, it was believed that there were canals on Mars.

Famous canals and lists

See also

C. Northcote Parkinson   Index

This page is based on the Wikipedia article ''Canal''. It is licensed under the GNU free documentation license.

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