Major Canals Built

Year BuiltNameExtent
540-1320Grand CanalBeijing – Hangzhou (2,500 km)
11th CenturyNaviglio GrandeMilan – Adriatic (30 km)
1390-97Stecknitz CanalElbe – Trave (11 km)
1604-42Briare CanalSeine – Loire (58 km)
1667-81Canal du MidiGaronne – Mediterranean (279 km)
1732Ladoga canalSt. Petersburg – Volga (110 km)
1759-61Bridgewater CanalWorsley – Manchester (16 km)
1784-1833Rhine-Rhone canalStrasburg-Mulhouse-Burgundy (319 km)
1810-24North Sea canalAmsterdam – North Sea (20 km)
1817-25Erie canalBuffalo – Albany (544 km)
1821-25Lachine CanalMontreal – Lake St. Louis (15 km)
1836-45LudwigskanalMain – Danube (172 km)
1838-54Rhine – Marne canalSaverne gap (314 km)
1859-69Suez CanalMediterranean – Red Sea (112 km)
1894Manchester Ship CanalManchester – Liverpool (64 km)
1887-95Kiel CanalBaltic Sea – North Sea (99 km)
1906-14Panama CanalAtlantic Ocean – Pacific Ocean (80 km)
1905-38MittellandkanalRhine – Elbe (320 km)

Source: adapted from K. Leibrand (1970) Transportation and Town Planning, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, p. 24.

Although several canal systems were built well before the industrial revolution, such as the Grand Canal in China, the 18th and 19th centuries saw the acceleration of canal projects.