Channel- an artificial channel designed to shorten water routes or to redirect water flow.

The first irrigation canals appeared at the end of the 6th millennium BC. in Mesopotamia. At about the same time, apparently, they began to build irrigation systems in Ancient Egypt, so that by the turn of ΙΙΙ and ΙΙ thousand, a wide network of irrigation canals was created in both countries. It is possible that the world's first shipping canal appeared in Ancient Egypt, which connected the Red Sea with the Mediterranean through one of the tributaries of the Nile. The construction of this waterway began around 600 BC. and lasted until 518 BC, when the country was captured by the Persians.

According to the method of water supply, the channels are divided into gravity, in which water flows under the action of gravity, and with a mechanical rise of water, for which pumping stations are used.

According to their functions, modern channels are divided into two main types:

• canals used for - delivery or drainage of water;
• transport channels(for example, delivery of goods or people).

Channels often serve both functions.

Depending on the purpose, the channels are divided into several types.

Since ancient times, amelioration canals have played an important role in agriculture, which, in turn, are divided into irrigation and drainage (drainage) canals. The first of them deliver water and distribute it in the fields, so they can most often be found in the deserts and semi-deserts of Asia and Africa, as well as in areas where intensive farming is carried out. The latter, on the contrary, drain water from the wetland. Irrigation (irrigation) canals usually form a system of canals: main, distribution, irrigation and spillway. In large irrigation systems, the main canals reach a length of several hundred km, for example, the Big Stavropol (over 300 km), the Big Fergana (about 300 km), the Karakum canal (up to Ashgabat - 796 km).

Irrigation canals supply water for agricultural purposes (mainly livestock) to waterless and arid regions; increase the flow of local small rivers, improve their sanitary condition.

Plumbing canals supply water to the place of its consumption, and the operating conditions and sanitary requirements often force such structures to be closed. Their main purpose is to supply water to waterless and arid areas from places where there is a constant surplus of water.

Water supply, water supply and irrigation canals can be gravity and machine.

Another type of channels is energy. Energy canals supply water from a river, reservoir, lake to a hydroelectric power plant or drain waste water from it. The energy channels are characterized by a relatively short length (usually not exceeding 5-10 km) and low carrying capacity.

Navigable canals - freshwater and sea - connect rivers, lakes and seas and are designed, as a rule, for various types of water transport - from small boats to huge bulk carriers. The purpose of creating a navigable canal is to connect the basins of two reservoirs, shorten the path between the two reservoirs, ensure guaranteed navigation, solve the problem of transport accessibility along the waterways of destination points, and create economically viable transportation routes.

Navigable canals (artificial waterways) can connect navigable rivers and seas (White Sea-Baltic Canal); can be carried out bypassing rough areas of large open bodies of water, for example, lakes and seas (Onega, Ladoga, Belozersky, Beregovoy Mexican canals, etc.) or bypassing rapids of rivers; can straighten winding sections of the river to shorten the length of the waterway (Khoroshevsky canal on the Moskva river, a canal on the Don river below the Tsimlyanskaya hydroelectric power station, etc.); can play the role of navigable approaches from the sea, lake or river to settlements, inland ports, industrial enterprises, agricultural areas (St. Petersburg and Volga-Caspian sea canals, etc.). Bypass, straightening and approach channels are usually built open (non-gateway). Almost all connecting canals are sluice, due to the difference in levels in the connected rivers (seas), and also because of the need to reduce the amount of earthworks when running canals through watersheds. Water is supplied to the shipping channels by gravity. Bank cladding is used to protect them from destruction by waves resulting from the movement of ships. The most famous sluice canals are Panama and Kiel.

Fish-breeding canals are built to supply water to spawning grounds, to pass fish bypassing hydraulic structures, to connect separate isolated reservoirs with fish to the river, etc.

Timber canals are used for timber rafting or rafts from harvesting sites to a timber floating river or a sawmill, for transporting timber bypassing hydraulic structures.

Complex channels are being built in order to comprehensively solve several economic problems. For example, the Volga-Don Canal named after IN AND. Lenin (from the Tsimlyanskaya HPP) - a shipping-irrigation-energy complex.

The main characteristics of the channel are the shape and size of its free cross-section, i.e. cross section of the flow.

According to the shape of the living section of the channel, they are divided into the following types: trapezoidal, polygonal, rectangular, semicircular, parabolic, outlined by a more complex curve or composite.

In terms of hydraulics, the semicircular shape is most advantageous, but due to the difficulty of making and maintaining curvilinear outlines in nature, the semicircular and parabolic shapes are used very rarely.

Rectangular section is carried out when channeling in rock cuttings, and in soft soils - in special cases (on the territory of settlements, on slopes, etc.) by erecting retaining walls.

In cross-section, the channels have rectangular, trapezoidal and polygonal (polyhedral) shapes.

The ice cover reduces the carrying capacity of the canal. To prevent the formation of sludge (bottom ice) in the channel, measures are taken to obtain surface ice of a small thickness. With an inevitable abundant amount of sludge, facilities are provided for discharging it from the canal, and the canal itself is traced with a minimum number of turns.

To protect the channel bed from destruction by the current and waves, reduce water losses for filtration into the ground and reduce the roughness of the living section (to increase the channel's throughput), linings are used. Claddings, which serve only to protect the slopes from erosion, are made in the form of stone paving, stone laying and outline, as well as concrete slabs.

On all canals, except for special structures related to the operation of the canal (locks on navigable canals, pumping stations on machine canals, waterways, etc.), various structures are being erected at the intersections of the canal with watercourses (pipes, siphons, aqueducts), with communication routes (viaducts, tunnels, bridges, pipes, ferry crossings, etc.) and in places of a sharp change in the terrain (drops, swift currents).

The construction of canals almost always requires the installation of additional structures, which can be divided into several categories:

• water supply facilities;
• connecting structures;
• structures regulating the general regime of the canal.

Separate sections of the canals can be replaced with water supply structures for both economic and technical reasons. Such structures include chutes, pipes, tunnels, aqueducts, siphons, mudflows, etc.

In cases where soil conditions do not allow to arrange a reliable channel of the channel, or the terrain where the section of the channel route passes is too complicated (very rugged terrain, mountain slopes, etc.), it is advisable to use trays. Trays are also artificial channels, however, they are located on the surface of the earth or are arranged above the ground on supports. They can be made of wood, reinforced concrete, metal and other materials. The movement of water in the trays is pressureless. Sometimes the trays are protected from above with some kind of coating, which in its essence brings them closer to the pipes.

Aqueducts are arranged in places where the canal crosses any obstacle: rivers, ravines, roads, etc. An aqueduct, unlike a tray on supports, is a capital structure. In this regard, aqueducts are closer to bridges, while the tray itself can serve as a span.

The pipelines allow the canal water to pass under any obstacle, and are also used in unfavorable climatic conditions in certain sections of the canal passage. The pipelines can be located both underground and be of an open type with the possibility of direct access. The mode of movement of water in pipelines is usually pressure.

If it is necessary to pass any watercourse under the canal, it is possible to install culverts. The design and calculations of such pipes are similar to those used when watercourses are crossed by road and railroad embankments.

If the terrain is steep, the water velocity in the canal may reach unacceptable values. In this regard, it is necessary to arrange sections of channels with a difference in height. To connect such sections, interface structures are used, which, in the general case, include rapid currents and drops.

In the drops, the water part of the path moves along the structure, and part of the path falls. In the stepwise drops, the energy of the falling water is extinguished by special devices. In the cantilever drops, the falling water forms a funnel at the place of the fall, which gradually reaches such a depth that the erosion stops and the energy of the fall is completely extinguished.

Rapid currents are troughs with large slopes, in which water moves at a speed greater than the critical one. The speed, however, should not reach the values ​​allowed for the bottom and wall material. To reduce the speed, it is possible to use the increased roughness of the tray in the form of various protrusions, steps and thresholds. At the end of the rapid flow, stilling wells are arranged to damp the speed.

Pumping stations are also used to connect canal sections of different heights.

Such structures that regulate the general regime of the canal include gateways-regulators and water dividers, emergency barriers, spillways and drainages, and slush outlets.

A regulator sluice is a dam equipped with gates. Its functions include regulation of the water flow in the channel itself, as well as in the branches from it. Emergency barriers are thresholds equipped with gates. If necessary, they can be used to isolate individual sections of the channel.

Yu.V. Bogatyreva, A.A. Belyakov

Thousands of years ago, they became the cause of bloody battles, powerful rulers sacrificed people's lives for access to waterways. Rapid rivers and seas gave people the main thing - water for irrigation of agricultural land, food and the opportunity to travel, the first large settlements and cities of the planet were formed precisely on the banks of large rivers and near the sea. For thousands of years, people have learned to subjugate the water element, the peak of human power in this area is the construction of water canals - artificial waterways, which can have a very different purpose. Canals are built to shorten water routes or to redirect the flow of water; many modern canals have several important functions at once. In appearance, modern canals are extremely difficult to distinguish from real rivers, they are incredibly beautiful and harmonious. There are quite dangerous channels on the planet, and some of them have long been in the attention of tourists.

The Corinth Canal, the narrowest navigable canal on the planet, is a unique attraction on a global scale. This channel connects two large bays - Corinthian and Saronic, and was named after the well-known Greek city located at its western end. The main distinguishing feature of the canal is its parameters, having a length of more than 6 km, the canal is only 25 meters wide. On both sides, the channel is framed by high stone walls, directed upward by 76 meters, and the depth of one of the longest channels on the planet seems to be modest at all, it is only 8 meters.

Local residents began to think about the construction of a canal between the bays of the two seas thousands of years ago, the first plan for the construction of the canal was developed by the tyrant Periander in the 7th century BC. His grandiose plans were never destined to come true, as soon as work began, they had to be stopped due to a number of difficulties that arose. The canal, which travelers can see today, can be safely called an outstanding historical landmark.

It began to be built in 1881, and the grand opening of the canal took place in August 1893. A few decades ago, the canal was of great economic importance, today it is of greater interest from a tourist point of view. More than 11,000 boats pass through the canal every year, including many tourist ferries, and thrill-seekers have used the bridges over the canal for many years for bungee jumping.

The Panama Canal, often referred to as the "Bridge of the Americas", is an engineering masterpiece. It connects two oceans - the Atlantic and the Pacific, and is a complex system of water intake mechanisms and locks. The length of the canal is about 77 km, considering that it was opened back in 1920, all the above facts seem even more fantastic. Despite the fact that nearly a hundred years have passed since the opening of the canal, it continues to be considered one of the greatest engineering projects of mankind.

The North and Baltic Seas are connected by the Kiel Canal, which is also one of the most important tourist sites in Germany. The canal was named after the nearby town of Kiel and the bay of the same name; its length is about 98 km. Despite the fact that the width of the Kiel Canal is relatively small and is about 100 meters, it is considered the busiest and most demanded canal in Europe.

One of the most famous and recognizable on the planet is the Suez Canal, which connects the Red and Mediterranean Seas. The unique geographical position between Africa and Eurasia allows it to claim the status of not only the most important transport hub, but also the title of an outstanding sight of world importance. The length of the canal is 163 km, and the maximum width along the bottom reaches 60 meters. The depth of the Suez Canal, in comparison with others, is also quite large and reaches 20 meters.

The Caledonian Canal, located in the UK, was an important transport hub several decades ago, and today it is, first of all, an incredibly attractive tourist attraction. The channel connects two large lakes - Loch Lough and Loch Ness, in addition to cargo barges, a huge number of pleasure boats ply along it. The canal is open for traffic from March to October; many travelers tend to visit these places in the spring to enjoy the harmonious landscapes.

Among the numerous channels presented on the territory of Russia, the most famous is the White Sea-Baltic. Its length is about 227,000 meters, the width of the channel in comparison with other "world giants" is also quite large - 36 meters, and the depth is only 4 meters. Taking into account the above parameters, it is difficult to imagine that less than two years were spent on the construction of the canal, a huge scale of work was completed in just 21 months.

The Augustow Canal connects two large rivers - the Vistula and the Neman, and is located on the territory of two states - Poland and Belarus. The first ships passed through the canal in 1839, so it can be safely ranked among the outstanding historical sites. Since the initiative for the construction belonged to Poland, the canal got its name in honor of the Polish city of Augustow. The purpose of building a large-scale canal, the length of which was 101,000 meters, was extremely simple, the Augustow Canal was planned to be actively used for timber rafting.

The Central German Canal is the real leader of the country in a number of indicators and has been the most important transport hub in Germany for many years. The length of the longest canal in Germany is 325,700 meters, it connects the Rhine with major waterways of the state, including the rivers Elbe, Ems, Weser and Oder. Travelers are interested in the canal, first of all, because of the picturesque landscapes and historical sights located along its banks.

Sweden has a large-scale Geta Canal built in the first half of the 19th century and connects the Baltic and North Seas. For a little less than 200 years, it has served the country's trade interests, and in recent years it has acquired many new statuses. The Geta Canal was opened on September 26, 1832. Today it is well known to fans of sailing, water walks and fishing. The length of the canal is quite impressive and is about 420,000 meters; it includes 58 locks and a huge number of related buildings.

Literally everyone knows about the Great Wall of China today, even those who have never been to China. Another unique attraction of the country - the Great Chinese Canal - undeservedly remains outside the attention of many travelers. At the same time, it is he who is the longest navigable canal on the planet, its length is 1,794 km. The canal connects the city of Hangzhou, located in the north of the state, with Beijing; it was originally built for commercial purposes.

GREAT CANAL(Chin. - Yunho or Yunhe), a canal in China with a length of 1930 km, runs along the eastern part of the country in a general direction from north to south between the cities of Beijing and Hangzhou. This oldest and longest canal in the world crosses four provinces (Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang) and two great rivers, the Yellow and Yangtze. When the construction of this artificial aqueduct was completed (which took about 2,000 years), it became an important transport artery between north and south of China.

The Great Canal was built over three historical periods. Its most ancient section, 225 km long, began to be built at the last stage of the existence of the Zhou state, presumably in the 6th century. BC. They connected the Yangtze River with the Huaihe River basin. Corresponding to this old canal, the section of the modern Grand Canal runs from the city of Qinjiang (in Jiangsu province) to the Yangtze River (in the Yangzhou region), passing through a series of lakes entering the Huaihe River basin. The water level in this area is regulated by dams, and here small ships could sail along the canal.

Let's find out more about him ...

Photo 2.

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Almost all rivers of china flow from west to east and into the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, already in antiquity, a system of canals arose that connected the basins of these rivers. Subsequently, individual sections were combined and completed. So it appeared The great canal of china, or, as it is called in China, Grand canal(大 运河). It connects Beijing and Hangzhou... Its length is 1,774 km and it is the longest canal in the world. It originates in the Tongxiang county near Beijing, passes through the cities of Beijing and Tianjin, four provinces - Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang and ends in the city of Hangzhou (Zhejiang province). It also connects five rivers: Haihe, Yellowhe, Huaihe, Yangtze and Qiantang.

Approximately 1200 years later, the canal was extended to the south for a distance of about 400 km - to the city of Hangzhou in the Zhejiang province. Completed by about 610 AD, the construction of this section required the cleaning and interconnection of some of the short canals that already existed there and, in addition, a fairway through the large Taihu Lake.

North of Qinjiang, most of the canal was completed under Khubilai (the first emperor of the Mongol Yuan dynasty), whose commanders conquered Hangzhou. Khubilai tried to establish communication routes between his southern possessions and the capital - Khanbalik (as the Mongols called then Beijing). The extension of the canal to the north began, probably in 1279, and led it across the lakes. On this route, it was necessary to erect dams and build locks, since it was necessary to regulate the water level, because it turned out to be different in different lakes. The northern part of the Great Canal was named Za Ho - the river of sluices. The canal entered the Shandong province, where it was brought to Dongping; in the section between this city and Jining, navigation is often hampered by insufficient water flow into the channel. Around 1300 A.D. the canal route was extended to the city of Linjing, which is on the Weihe River, in northern Shandong.

Photo 3.

At the end of the reign of the Yuan dynasty, the Great Canal was extended even further north, into the Hebei province, where near the city of Tianjin its waters mixed with the waters of the Beiyunhe River. The section of the canal between the Weihe and Beiyunhe rivers is navigable all year round. Further, the canal went along the bed of the Beiyunhe River against its course and reached the Tongxian settlement, which is 24 km east of Beijing. During the Ming Empire (1368-1644), the canal was significantly improved, and those sections of it that had fallen into disrepair were again made navigable.

With the development of railways (in the late 19th and early 20th centuries), the Great Canal lost its former significance. On the lands along which its route ran, there were more than once destructive floods, and in the middle of the 19th century. the Yellow River changed its course and began to flow not into the Yellow Sea, but into the Bohaiwan Bay in the north of Shandong. The brutal flooding of the Huaihe River in 1931 and devastating hostilities in the period from 1937 to 1949 brought the Grand Canal to a state of utter devastation. By 1949, when the communists won, only junks could walk on it.

Photo 4.

In 1952, a program for regulating the water regime in the Huaihe River basin began, which provided for work on clearing, widening and straightening the channel of the Great Canal. Modern mechanized shipping locks were built on it. The section of the route, which runs through Jiangsu province, was reconstructed, and 1000-ton vessels began to sail on it. The modernization of the canal was carried out at an accelerated pace, since by this time the railways were already barely able to cope with the transportation of minerals.

Photo 5.

The Great Canal will play a much more important role precisely as a means of supplying the north of the country with water for agricultural and industrial purposes. Chinese experts estimate that by 2030, when the country's population reaches 1.6 billion people, water resources per capita will amount to 1,760 cubic meters. And according to international standards, the minimum allowable level is 1,700 cubic meters. According to Li Rui, director of the Institute for the Protection of Land Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, water consumption in China will peak by 2030, and if effective measures are not taken, the country will face a serious crisis in the future.

According to Chinese scientists, in order to feed its population, which, despite the birth control, continues to increase by eight million people every year, China, as in ancient times, needs to continue to irrigate the country's arid north. After all, 80 percent of water resources are in the Yangtze basin and areas located south of this river. Let me remind you that in central China there are two great rivers that flow from west to east - the Yellow River and the Yangtze. They are nearly equal in length. However, the annual flow of the Yangtze is twenty times that of the Yellow River. Over the years of the PRC's existence, farmers, mainly in the northern part of the country, have managed to increase the irrigated area by about four times - from 15 to 52 million hectares. However, all possibilities have now been exhausted. So much water is taken from the Yellow River for irrigation that it almost dries up in summer. A different situation exists in the Yangtze Basin area. In China, she is called the mother river. The Yangtze Basin is one of the main economic regions. Occupying only one fifth of the country's territory, it accounts for more than two fifths of the gross domestic product. And the energy capacity of the Yangtze Basin is almost three times greater than that of all the rivers in the United States combined.

Photo 6.

The idea of ​​turning rivers from south to north was born in 1952 and belongs to the former Chinese leader Mao Zedong. It is clear that under the conditions of the 50s, when the anti-Japanese war and then the civil war ended quite recently, it was completely impossible to implement this project. But he was never forgotten. And in recent decades, they returned to it again. First, all the necessary scientific and practical research was carried out, assessments were made of the difficulties and problems that would have to be solved, the issue of the need to relocate hundreds of thousands of people from their places of residence, where the construction of water facilities would take place, was resolved. In 2002, the Chinese government decided to launch a project to provide water to the country's arid regions. Now, for the past nine years, the construction of hydraulic structures for the transfer of water has been intensively going on in China. This construction has been declared an object of strategic importance in the rational distribution of the country's water resources, in changing the tense situation with water resources in the northern regions of China, which is directly related to social and cultural development and the problem of improving the environment in these regions. This facility, like the construction of the Sanxia hydroelectric complex on the Yangtze River, the laying of a gas pipeline from the western part of the country to the eastern and the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet railway, are called the four most important construction projects in modern China. It is assumed that in a few decades, a network of canals will appear in China through which water from the Yangtze, Huaihe, Yellowhe and Haihe rivers will be transported to the northern regions of the country.

For the transfer of water from the Yangtze River, three main canals are being built - eastern, central and western. In particular, 6 provinces and cities of central subordination, such as Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Henan and Jiangsu provinces, will receive water through the eastern and western canals. During the construction of the eastern canal, the existing infrastructure of the Great Chinese Canal will be used.

The Great Canal is not only a transport and waterway. But it is also a magnificent historical monument that connects China's past and present.

Photo 7.

Several years ago, representatives of travel agencies from 15 large and medium-sized cities located along the Grand Canal gathered in Huai'an City in Jiangsu Province and jointly decided to create a travel route called "Traveling along the Grand Canal." They stated that they would jointly create and improve the mechanism of interregional cooperation in the field of tourism. And on the Great China Canal, which stretches for almost 2,000 kilometers, there are many places worthy of attention of tourists. For example, historical production sites. Many old objects, for example, shipyards and other industrial enterprises were moved to other areas of the city. Industrial buildings and equipment with an interesting history are already being used in a new capacity. For example, tourists live in them or they are the object of display. Such a project was developed for the former industrial areas along the Grand Canal in Suzhou.

The Great Canal of China has many bridges and marinas. Bridges in historical cities played not only a purely transport function, but also an important compositional and spatial role. During the construction of bridges on the Great Canal, great attention was paid to their shape. The bridges are very expressive, in which the shape of the arches and their reflection in the water form regular circles.

Photo 8.

There are picturesque views from the bridges, so many of them were conceived as viewing platforms with awnings for shade and benches. At the same time, the architectural solutions of the bridges were distinguished by their individuality and artistic expressiveness.

Shipping channels of Russia

Channel them. Moscow(Fig. 11.9) 126 km long connects the reservoir of the Ivankovsky hydroelectric complex on the river. Volga and r. Moscow. The northern slope of the canal, 73 km long, has five locks, which ensure the lifting of vessels by 38 m. The dividing pool of the canal is 49 km long (between locks No. 6 and No. 7). The short southern slope (4 km) within the city of Moscow is overcome by two two-chamber locks No. 8 and No. 9.

The watershed pool of the canal is fed by the Volga water, which is supplied by pumping stations and is used both for locking ships and for supplying water to Moscow.

The Ikshinskoe, Uchinskoe, Klyazmenskoe and Khimkinskoe reservoirs are located on the watershed. Pumping stations are located at hydroelectric complexes No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6.

Volgo-Donskoy(fig.11.10) shipping channel connects r. Volga with r. Don. The length of the canal is 101 km. At the same time, the Volga slope has a length of 21 km, on which there are 9 locks, with the help of which vessels rise from the river. The Volga River to the watershed at 88 m. Descent of vessels from the watershed, where the Varvarovskoye reservoir is located between locks No. 9 and No. 10, to the Tsimlyansk reservoir on the river. Don is made 43 m through 4 locks. The watershed pool is fed by the Don water using 3 pumping stations.

Volga-Baltic Canal(Fig. 11.11) is located between Lake Onega and the Rybinsk reservoir on the river. Volga. On the northern slope of the canal (elevation 80 m) there are 6 locks (No. 1-6), on the southern slope (13 m) there is one Sheksninsky lock (No. 7). In recent years, at the Sheksninsky hydroelectric complex, parallel to lock No. 7, lock No. 8 with somewhat larger dimensions has been built. This lock is the first of the locks of the second line of the Volga-Baltic Canal, which is planned to be built in the future.

The watershed pool of the canal, where the White Lake is located, is fed by the natural runoff of numerous rivers, the largest of which are the Kovzha, Vytegra and Sheksna rivers. This runoff is sufficient not only to lock ships, but also to generate electricity at the Sheksninskaya and Vytegorskaya HPPs.

White Sea-Baltic Canal(Fig. 11.12) 227 km long connects Lake Onega and the White Sea. The southern slope of the canal has seven locks, of which six are two-chamber. The height of the rise of Lake Onega to the watershed pool is 70 m. The northern slope towards the White Sea has a drop of 100 m, which is overcome by twelve locks. The watershed pond and intermediate ponds between the half-locks are nourished naturally due to the runoff of rivers and large lakes. The largest rivers are Vyg, Segezha, and the largest is Lake Vyg. Several hydroelectric power stations have been built on the route of the White Sea-Baltic Canal.

The Varangians thought about the necessity of the existence of water canals. The Varangians were brave river pirates.

They needed water channels, in order to facilitate your trade route and not drag ships by dragging, (more:). But they were not the first canal builders.

Workers who made the dreams of the Varangians come true must be sought elsewhere and much earlier: on the Tigris and Euphrates, in distant China and in the land of the pyramids and the Nile.

The Great Canal in China

The ancient cultural peoples did not build such canals at all that the Varangians wanted to have.

Rulers Of China thought of something completely different. More than 2000 years ago, they ordered to build "Great Canal", 1782 kilometers long, from Hongzhou to Beijing. So water channel taxes levied on the population in the form of bread, tea, and fruit would arrive at the palace in Beijing faster than overland.

Drainage reservoirs in Egypt

The Egyptians also had no "passion" for travel. Neal gave them everything they needed. They took up shovels to get Neal to give them even more.

The Egyptians caught the flood waters of the Nile overflowing its banks, preventing it from devastating the fields. The traps that they built for him were the most common pits-reservoirs.

Draining reservoirs in Egypt there were so many that if they could be put in one row, they would encircle the entire globe along the equator.

With the help of simple wells and water wheels, the Egyptians were forced, and to climb to such a height that she would never have climbed on her own free will. And that was three thousand years ago!

Irrigation canals on the Amazon River

Irrigation canals built by the Arabs, Indians in the river basin Amazon and slaves of the kings of Urartu. The descendants of the Urartu tribes now live in Armenia. Their name was preserved in the name of Mount Ararat.

Many water channels, built of huge hewn stones, have existed for millennia and are still in effect now With. They all worked hard to conquer the water.

The canal that connected the Nile to the Red Sea

Particularly difficult work fell to the lot of the army of slaves of Pharaoh Necho, the conqueror of Syria. Neho dreamed of channel that would connect Nile with the Red Sea(about the Suez Canal!).

Day and night, slaves worked in the desert under the watchful gaze of the overseers. On the construction of the canal killed 120,000.

The channel was of little use to the country. Pharaoh's advisers were afraid that he would take too much water from the Nile and might open the gates to enemies inland. The world's first large shipping canal was again filled up.

In the land of powerful pharaohs and oppressed fellahs, the whole family could be found water channels: irrigation, drainage and shipping.

Each of them is useful and, if necessary, voluntarily comes to the aid of the other. In one place, the drainage channel serves for navigation, in another, the shipping channel diverts water to the desert.

Modern shipping canals with their locks and mechanisms for lifting ships - greatest miracle of technology.