The Earth’s man made waterways have led to significant advances for humans. Some facts in brief about 10 Canals.
Karakum Canal: Turkmenistan- known as ‘River of Life’, this Canal is the longest irrigation canal in the world. It is 1093 kms long, provides water for the cotton fields in the Karakum Desert. Karakum means black sands.
Grand Canal: China- the oldest & longest canal in the world, 1794 kms long. It connects Yellow river and Yangtze river. The construction began during the Sui dynasty dating back to 5th century BC. The starting point is Tianjin and the end point is Hangzhou. It is an UNESCO world heritage site.
Kiel Canal: Germany- world’s busiest canal. It connects North Sea with Baltic Sea. The canal helps the sailors to bypass Jutland peninsula thereby reducing their journey by 516 kms. Construction began in 1887 and completed in 1895. It is 97 km long and about 100 m wide.
Albert Canal: Belgium- connects Antwerp with Liege and also the Meuse river with the Scheldt river. The construction began in 1930 and completed in 1939 and the total length is about 129 kms. Prior to its construction it took about 7 days to travel from Antwerp to Liege. Today the same distance can be covered in 18 hours. This Canal is also a very popular holiday & cycling destination.
Corinth Canal: Greece- connects the Ionian Sea and Aegean Sea. It is just 6.4 kms in length and about 21.4 m wide making it impossible for modern ships to pass through today. But it is an important tourist destination so it has some economic relevance today. The construction began in 1881 and completed in 1893.
Trent Canal: Canada- this 386 km long canal is called ‘one of the finest interconnected system of navigation in the world’. It has the world’s highest hydraulic lift lock- The Peterborough Lift Lock. It is built of steel and concrete and was considered at the time a triumph of engineering over the challenges of the terrain.
Welland Canal: Canada- connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, this canal enables ships ascend and descend the Niagara Escarpment and bypass the Niagara Falls. A system of eight locks on this canal offers ships a safe detour. Construction began in 1824 and completed in 1833. It is about 43 kms in length.
Grand Union Canal: England- this canal is the longest canal in UK. It has about 250 locks along its route, connects London and Birmingham. The canal has two of the longest tunnels in the world on the Canal Network- Blisworth Tunnel: 2794 m & Braunston Tunnel: 1887 m. It was formed with the amalgamation of several different canals.
Suez Canal: Egypt-connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, this canal often considered to define the border between Africa and Asia. Completed in 1869, it is about 193 kms in length with Zero locks as it connects two pieces of land directly. After the creation of Israel from Palestine in 1948, the Egyptian government banned the transit of vessels to and fro from Israel. This prohibition lasted 30 years.
Panama Canal: Panama-Undoubtedly the greatest of all Canals. The largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken. The American Society of Civil Engineers has ranked it at The Seven Wonders of the Modern World. It links the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and it is about 82 Kms in length. This short cut greatly reduced the time for the ships to travel between the two oceans. For instance a ship travelling from New York to San Francisco can save 7872 miles using the canal instead of going around the tip of South America.
