History of Trade:
Europe's inland waterways: 15th-17th century
Trade up and down great rivers and in coastal waters is as old as civilization. Trade across seas develops as soon as adequate boats are built, most notably by the Phoenicians. The natural next stage is to join river systems and even seas by man-made canals. Pioneered in Egypt and China in very ancient times, this development does not occur in Europe until the 15th century AD.
With prosperity beginning to pick up after the depression following the Black Death, merchants have need of cheap and reliable transport. Europe's roads are rutted tracks, the use of which is slow and dangerous. There is good commercial reason to connect the rivers, the arteries of trade. The merchants of Lübeck take the first step.
From 1391 the Stecknitz canal is constructed southwards from the city of Lübeck. Its destination is the Elbe, which is reached early in the 15th century. The new waterway joins the Baltic to the North Sea.
This canal rises some 40 feet from Lübeck to the region of Möllner and then falls the same amount again to reach the Elbe, all in a distance of 36 miles. This must be about the limit which can be safely achieved with flash locks. With mitre locks, from the 16th century, anything is possible. And the most ambitious projects are undertaken in France.
The Briare canal, completed in 1642, joins the Seine to the Loire; at one point it has a staircase of six consecutive locks to cope with a descent of 65 feet over a short distance. Even more remarkable is the Canal du Midi, completed in 1681, which joins the Mediterranean to the Atlantic by means of 150 miles of man-made waterway linking the Aude and Garonne rivers. At one point this canal descends 206 feet in 32 miles; three aqueducts are constructed to carry it over rivers; a tunnel 180 yards long pierces through one patch of high ground.
The potential of canals is self-evident. It falls to Britain, in the next century, to construct the first integrated system of waterborne traffic.
Read more: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainText...z5gshKaHSB
Europe's inland waterways: 15th-17th century
Trade up and down great rivers and in coastal waters is as old as civilization. Trade across seas develops as soon as adequate boats are built, most notably by the Phoenicians. The natural next stage is to join river systems and even seas by man-made canals. Pioneered in Egypt and China in very ancient times, this development does not occur in Europe until the 15th century AD.
With prosperity beginning to pick up after the depression following the Black Death, merchants have need of cheap and reliable transport. Europe's roads are rutted tracks, the use of which is slow and dangerous. There is good commercial reason to connect the rivers, the arteries of trade. The merchants of Lübeck take the first step.
From 1391 the Stecknitz canal is constructed southwards from the city of Lübeck. Its destination is the Elbe, which is reached early in the 15th century. The new waterway joins the Baltic to the North Sea.
This canal rises some 40 feet from Lübeck to the region of Möllner and then falls the same amount again to reach the Elbe, all in a distance of 36 miles. This must be about the limit which can be safely achieved with flash locks. With mitre locks, from the 16th century, anything is possible. And the most ambitious projects are undertaken in France.
The Briare canal, completed in 1642, joins the Seine to the Loire; at one point it has a staircase of six consecutive locks to cope with a descent of 65 feet over a short distance. Even more remarkable is the Canal du Midi, completed in 1681, which joins the Mediterranean to the Atlantic by means of 150 miles of man-made waterway linking the Aude and Garonne rivers. At one point this canal descends 206 feet in 32 miles; three aqueducts are constructed to carry it over rivers; a tunnel 180 yards long pierces through one patch of high ground.
The potential of canals is self-evident. It falls to Britain, in the next century, to construct the first integrated system of waterborne traffic.
Read more: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainText...z5gshKaHSB
1
