canals and inland waterways: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	inland waterway

Photos and Videos

View of Utrecht's Oude Gracht canal lined with historic brick buildings, arched doorways at water level, and boats moored along the canal edge in the Netherlands.

Traditional half-timbered houses line a canal bordered with colorful flowers on a sunny street in Colmar, Alsace, northeastern France.

Tour boats are moored along the tree-lined banks of the Midi Canal as cyclists ride a path beside the water in Toulouse, France, with a bridge visible in the background.

Elbe-Havel Canal; Mittelland Canal

Bridgewater Canal

Panama Canal: Miraflores Locks

Diagram of a canal lock system showing boats moving between a lower and upper canal, with labeled parts including the control cabin, lock chamber, upstream and downstream gates.

Devizes: Caen Hill Locks

Experience a family holiday on a houseboat in Germany

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Topics

lock gate barge towpath Timeline and Map of the Panama Canal List of Important Canals lock How was the Panama Canal built?mitre gate construction railroad tunnels and underground excavations lake Harbors and sea works bridge road dam water supply system lighthouse

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Iraq: Irrigation and canals

Key People

Jervis, John Bloomfield: Stourbridge Lion

John Bloomfield Jervis

American engineer

Thomas Telford

Thomas Telford

Scottish engineer

Smeaton, detail of an engraving by W. Bromley, 1798, after a portrait by J. Brown

John Smeaton

British engineer

Erie Canal

Benjamin Wright

American engineer

Old Erie Canal

James Geddes

American engineer, lawyer, and politician

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John Rennie

Scottish civil engineer

James Brindley

James Brindley

British engineer

Canal du Midi

Pierre-Paul, Baron Riquet de Bonrepos

French engineer

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Emiland-Marie Gauthey

French engineer

Robert Fulton

Robert Fulton

American inventor

Francis Egerton, 3rd duke of Bridgewater

Francis Egerton, 3rd duke of Bridgewater

British noble

water glass on white background. (drink; clear; clean water; liquid)

Water and its Varying Forms