Top 10 Longest Artificial Canals in the World
A canal is a waterway that has been created by humans to allow ships and boats to move from one body of water to another. Water is also transported through canals for human use, including irrigation. Even though the need for canals has diminished due to the development of more effective modes of transportation, they continue to be essential for facilitating global trade.
Canals come in two varieties: aqueducts and waterways. Waterways, which are the parts of a body of water that can be navigated, can be found in a bay or in the open sea, can connect two or more water bodies, and they can even form networks within a city. Water is only transported via aqueducts for human consumption, agricultural use, and hydroelectric power.
The Old French word 'Chanel', which means "channel" is where the word "canal" originates. Mesopotamian aqueducts, constructed thousands of years ago, are the world's oldest canals. Since then, canals have been crucial in bridging cultures and promoting trade.
List of Top 10 Longest Man-made Canals in the World
01. Grand Canal (China)
Start: Beijing
End: Hangzhou
Length: 1,776 km
The Grand Canal, also referred to as the Jing-Hang Grand Canal by the Chinese, is the world's longest man-made river and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Yellow River and Yangtze River are connected by this route, which begins in Beijing and travels through Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces before arriving in Hangzhou. Although the canal's earliest portions date to the fifth century BC, it wasn't until the Sui dynasty (581-618 AD) that the various parts were first joined. In order to supply their capital, dynasties between 1271 and 1633 significantly rebuilt the canal and changed its course. The Grand Canal was crucial in bringing north and south China together. Conscripted laborers constructed the canal, which connected the Yangtze River in the south with the Yellow River in the north, making it much simpler to transport grain from the south to the political and military strongholds in north China.
02. Qaraqum Canal (Russia)
Start: Amu Darya (river)
End: Gökdepe, west of Ashgabat, skirting the Karakum Desert
Length: 1,375 km
One of the largest irrigation and water supply canals in the world is the Karakum Canal in Turkmenistan (also known as Qaraqum Canal, Kara Kum Canal, and Garagum Canal). It was constructed between 1954 and 1988, and it carries 13 cubic kilometers (3 point 1 cubic miles) of water from Turkmenistan's Amu-Darya River across the Karakum Desert each year. It is navigable for most of its 1,375 km (854 mi) length. The canal provided Ashgabat with a significant source of freshwater and opened up vast new tracts of land for agriculture, particularly the heavily Soviet-supported monoculture of cotton. In addition, the Aral Sea environmental catastrophe is greatly influenced by the canal. A future extension of the canal to the Caspian Sea was planned by the Soviet government.
03. Saimaa Canal (Russia / Finland)
Start: Lake Saimaa, Finland
End: Gulf of Finland near Vyborg, Russia
Length: 815 km
The Saimaa Canal is a waterway that runs close to Vyborg, Russia, and connects Lake Saimaa with the Gulf of Finland. The canal was constructed between 1845 and 1856 and opened on September 7 of that year. Between 1963 and 1968, it was updated and widened. Through the canal, one can access a network of inland waterways and canals in the 120 interconnected lakes that make up Finland's Finnish Lakeland in the south-central and south-east of the country. There are 814 km (506 mi) of deep channels in Lake Saimaa that have a minimum draught of 4 point 2 m (14 ft). To Kuopio in Central Finland, the deep channels reach.
04. Eurasia Canal (Russia)
Start: Caspian Sea
End: Black Sea
Length: 700 km
A 700-kilometer (430-mile) canal connecting the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea along the Kuma-Manych Depression is called the Eurasia Canal. The Kuma-Manych Canal, a shallow irrigation system, and a series of lakes and reservoirs can currently be found along this path. If finished, the canal would also cross the Bosphorus to connect a number of Asia's island nations with the open ocean. The canal would have fewer locks (or locks with a lower rise) than the Volga-Don route, which is intended to offer a shorter route for shipping than the current system of waterways. The Eurasian Canal is most likely to follow the existing canal system known as the Manych Ship Canal.
05. Indira Gandhi Canal (India)
Start: Harike Barrage, Punjab
End: Thar Desert, Rajasthan
Length: 650 km
The longest canal in India is the Indira Gandhi Canal (also known as the Rajasthan Canal). It begins at the Harike Barrage near Harike, a few miles downstream from the Satluj and Beas Rivers' confluence in Punjab State, and it ends at irrigation facilities in Rajasthan State's Thar Desert, in the northwest. After Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated on November 2, 1984, the canal's previous name, the Rajasthan Canal, was changed to the Indira Gandhi Canal.
06. Erie Canal (USA)
Start: Hudson River near Albany, New York
End: Niagara River near Buffalo, New York
Length: 584 km
In upstate New York, between the Hudson River and Lake Erie, the Erie Canal is a famous canal that runs east-west. The canal, which was the first navigable waterway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes when it was finished in 1825, significantly decreased the cost of moving people and goods across the Appalachians. The Great Lakes region's settlement, the US's westward migration, and New York State's economic ascent were all accelerated by the canal. The phrase "The Nation's First Superhighway" has been used to describe it.
07. Grand Union Canal (England)
Start: Hudson River near Albany, New York
End: Niagara River near Buffalo, New York
Length: 584 km
The British canal network includes the Grand Union Canal in England. Between London and the Midlands, it is the main navigable waterway. With 166 locks, the Birmingham arm stretches 137 miles (220 km) from London, while the Leicester arm ends in Leicester. There are several quick branches off the Birmingham line that go to places like Slough, Aylesbury, Wendover, and Northampton. Market Harborough and Welford are two of the Leicester line's two brief branches.
08. Nara Canal (Pakistan)
Start: Sukkur Barrage
End: Jamrao Canal
Length: 364 km
In Pakistan's Sindh province, the Indus River has a deepened delta channel that is known as the Nara Canal. It was created as an excavated channel that branched off the Indus River's left bank and joined the path of the former Nara River, a tributary. q. Early in the second millennium BCE, the paleochannel of the Indus received water from the Ghaggar-Hakra until the Hakra dried up.
09. Rhone–Rhine Canal (France)
Start: Saint-Symphorien-sur-Saône
End: Niffer
Length: 350 km
The Canal du Rhône au Rhin, which connects the Rhine to the Saône and the Rhône and, ultimately, the North Sea and the Mediterranean, is one of the crucial watershed canals of the French waterways. The 29 km stretch between Artzenheim and Friesenheim has been partially restored by Alsace Region, but work was halted in 2009 due to financial concerns. The section from Mulhouse to Neuf-Brisach is abandoned. This section of the well-liked cycle path from Strasbourg was extended with a bike path in 2011.
10. Leeds and Liverpool Canal (England)
Start: Leeds
End: Liverpool
Length: 204 km
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal connects the cities of Leeds and Liverpool in Northern England. Over a distance of 127 miles (204 km), traversing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. There are several minor branches of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and at the beginning of the twenty-first century, a new connection was built into the docks of Liverpool.
Top 10 List of Most Longest Shipping Canals in the World
- Grand Canal (China)
- Qaraqum Canal (Russia)
- Saimaa Canal (Russia / Finland)
- Eurasia Canal (Russia)
- Indira Gandhi Canal (India)
- Erie Canal (USA)
- Grand Union Canal (England)
- Nara Canal (Pakistan)
- Rhone–Rhine Canal (France)
- Leeds and Liverpool Canal (England)
