The main canals in the world are:
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the Panama Canal, and the Suez Canal.
Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal:
The world-famous Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is the earliest and longest man-made river in the world. It is 16 times the size of the Suez Canal and 33 times the size of the Panama Canal. times.
The Grand Canal starts from Beijing in the north and reaches Hangzhou in the south. It flows through six provinces and cities: Beijing, Hebei, Tianjin, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. It connects the five major water systems of the Haihe River, the Yellow River, the Huaihe River, the Yangtze River, and the Qiantang River. The total length is 1794 kilometers.
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was built in the Spring and Autumn Period more than 2,000 years ago and has a history of 2,500 years ago. An important river channel dug by Qin Shihuang in Jiaxing also established the future direction of the Jiangnan Canal. According to the "Yue Jueshu", Qin Shihuang "managed the Ling Waterway from Jiaxing to Qiantang and crossed the land to connect Zhejiang". About 2,500 years ago, King Wu Fucha dug the Han ditch, opened a canal connecting the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River, and built the city of Han. Canals and canal culture were derived from this.
The Grand Canal we call today was dug in the Spring and Autumn Period, completed in the Sui Dynasty, prospered in the Tang and Song Dynasties, straightened in the Yuan Dynasty, and dredged in the Ming and Qing Dynasties (from 486 BC to 1293 AD) The whole line was opened to navigation in 1779), which lasted until 1779. In the long years, it has mainly gone through three major construction processes. In the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty mobilized millions of people to dig and connect the Grand Canal, which made a huge contribution to the country's unprecedented economic and cultural prosperity.) In the Sui Dynasty, the entire line began to be connected. After the development of the Tang and Song Dynasties, it finally became the Grand Canal in the Yuan Dynasty. It is a transportation artery that connects the five major water systems of the Haihe River, the Yellow River, the Huaihe River, the Yangtze River, and the Qiantang River, and connects the north and the south.
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is composed of artificial channels and some rivers and lakes. The whole process can be divided into seven sections: (1) Tonghui River; (2) North Canal; (3) South Canal Canal; (4) Lu Canal; (5) Middle Canal; (6) Li Canal; (7) Jiangnan Canal. The Beijing-Hangzhou Universiade can serve as a transportation artery between the north and the south and has played a huge role in history. The navigation of the canal promoted the rapid development of cities along the coast.
Geographical location: The Grand Canal starts from Beijing in the north and reaches Hangzhou in the south. It flows through six provinces and cities: Beijing, Hebei, Tianjin, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, connecting the Haihe River, Yellow River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River, and Qiantang River. There are five major river systems with a total length of 1,794 kilometers.
At present, the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal has a navigable mileage of 1,442 kilometers, of which the annual navigable mileage is 877 kilometers, mainly distributed in the three provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang south of the Yellow River.
The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is my country's second "golden waterway" after the Yangtze River, and its value is comparable to the Great Wall.
Panama Canal:
The Panama Canal is located in Located in the central part of the American Republic of Panama, it is an important shipping route connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The Panama Canal is 81.3 kilometers long, with water depths ranging from 13 to 15 meters and river widths from 150 to 304 meters. The water level of the entire canal is 26 meters higher than the two oceans, and there are 6 locks. It generally takes nine hours for ships to pass through the canal, which can accommodate ships up to 76,000 tons.
The construction process of the Panama Canal is an extraordinary history. For many years, imperialism has been trying to control Latin American countries, including their sovereign territories, energy, transportation, etc. The Republic of Panama, located in this region, was once a country subject to expansion and occupation. The Panamanian people have been enslaved and oppressed by imperialism in history, and the Panama Canal is the best witness.
Panama is located at the junction of North America and South America. It has obvious regional advantages. It faces the Pacific Ocean on the left and the Atlantic Ocean on the right. The widest land width is only more than 80 kilometers. All this makes Panama an ideal place to connect the two oceans. As early as the 16th century, King Charles V of Spain ordered the measurement and investigation of the Panama Canal. In 1879, an international conference of representatives to review the Panama Canal issue was held in Paris, France, and it was decided that the French government would be fully responsible for digging the canal.
On January 1, 1880, the French "Global Panama Canal Company" announced the official start of digging the Panama Canal. However, due to the occurrence and spread of the epidemic and financial difficulties, the excavation project finally came to a halt in 1889. In the following time, the United States, Britain, and France launched a fierce dispute over the construction of the Panama Canal. In 1901, the United States forced Britain to submit and concluded the Treaty of Hay-Ponsford, and at the same time abrogated the Treaty of Clayton-Burne signed in 1850, which guaranteed that the two countries had equal rights to the Panama Canal. The United States has since gained the privilege of digging, operating and managing the Panama Canal. In 1903, under the planning of the United States, some people in the Colombian Republic of Panama launched a coup and announced the establishment of the Panama Republic. On November 18 of the same year, the United States and Panama signed an unequal U.S.-Panama Treaty, which stipulated that the United States would obtain permanent use of the Panama Canal Zone at the cost of a one-time payment of US$10 million and an annual lease of US$250,000 after nine years. approximately 147,400 hectares). In addition to this right, the United States also received the right to build railroads and garrison troops.
On the basis of France's original canal digging, the United States continued to invest US$387 million and hired hundreds of thousands of people to dig the canal. Throughout the entire excavation and construction process, workers from all over the world, including many Chinese workers, worked hard to dig the Panama Canal. At that time, workers worked in extremely harsh conditions, and 70,000 workers in Panama and other countries died. The Panama Canal was completed in 1914 and opened to navigation in 1915. Since 1920, the canal has become an internationally navigable waterway. Due to the opening of the Panama Canal, the voyage between the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean has been shortened by 5,000 kilometers to 10,000 kilometers. Today, approximately 12,000 to 15,000 mining ships from all over the world pass through the canal every year.
Since the opening of the Panama Canal, the United States has controlled all aspects of canal navigation. To this day, the highest authority governing the canal is the Panama Canal Management Commission. The overall leader of the commission is an American, his deputy is a Panamanian, and all the canal pilots are Americans.
In order to regain the management rights of the canal, the Panamanian people continue to fight bravely. On January 9, 1946, an anti-American patriotic struggle broke out in Panama that shocked the world. Thanks to the unremitting resistance and struggle of the Panamanian people, the U.S. government and the Panamanian government finally signed the Panama Canal Treaty. According to this treaty, the United States should return the entire Panama Canal and Canal Zone to Panama before 1999, and all US troops stationed in the Canal Zone will withdraw from 16 bases. After the canal is recovered, the Panamanian government will set up a separate management agency to uniformly handle canal affairs.
Suez Canal:
The famous international navigation canal. Located in Egypt, it is the main international shipping lane connecting the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. It connects the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, connects the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, greatly shortening the east-west voyage. It is one of the dividing lines between Asia and Africa. Compared with detouring around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, the distance from the European Atlantic countries to the Indian Ocean is 5,500-8,009 kilometers shorter; the distance from the Mediterranean countries to the Indian Ocean is 8,000-10,000 kilometers shorter; for the Black Sea coast, the distance is 12,000 kilometers shorter. It is an important route in international shipping. The strategically important international shipping channel is responsible for 14% of the world's maritime trade every year.
The Suez Canal is more than 170 kilometers long, with an average width of 135 meters and an average depth of 13 meters. The Suez Canal was dug from 1859 to completed in 1869. After the opening of the canal, Britain and France monopolized 96% of the shares of the Suez Canal Company and made huge profits every year.
Since 1882, Britain has established the largest overseas military base in the canal area, stationing nearly 100,000 troops. After World War II, the Egyptian people resolutely demanded to regain their sovereignty over the Suez Canal and fought unremittingly for this purpose. In October 1954, Britain was forced to agree to completely withdraw its occupying forces from Egyptian territory by June 13, 1956.
On July 26, 1956, the Egyptian government announced that it would nationalize the Suez Canal Company.
In January 1976, the Egyptian government began work on the canal expansion project. The first phase of the project was completed in 1980. The navigation area of ??the canal was expanded from 1,800 square meters to 3,600 meters (that is, the part of the canal cross section suitable for navigation); the draft of navigable ships increased from 12.47 meters to 17.9 meters, making it passable. A fully loaded cargo ship of 150,000 tons. The second phase of the project was completed in 1983. The navigation area was expanded to 5,000 square meters, and the draft of navigation ships was increased to 21.98 meters, which will allow cargo ships with a load capacity of 250,000 tons to pass.
The only cross-sea bridge in the Suez Canal---"Mubarak Bridge"
On October 25, 1980, Egypt's first Suez Canal undersea tunnel was opened to traffic, thus greatly shortening the The time required to travel to and from the west bank of the canal. This tunnel, 17 kilometers north of Suez, has a total length of 5.9 kilometers, including the entrances on both sides, and the tunnel itself is 1.64 kilometers long. The road in the tunnel is 7.5 meters wide, and vehicles can run in parallel. It can pass 2,000 cars per hour. This is the first land passage connecting Asia and Africa under the Suez Canal.
80% of general cargo shipping between Asia and Europe, except oil, passes through the Suez Canal. Due to the laying of a large number of oil pipelines in the Middle East and the rapid development of roads and railways, the Suez Canal is facing a year-by-year decrease in passing ships, especially oil tankers. Egypt's revenue from transit fees collected from passing ships on the Suez Canal has also begun to decline. . On February 14, 1993, Egypt decided to widen and deepen the Suez Canal to increase foreign exchange earnings. The canal was widened by 30 meters and deepened by 1 to 17 meters. This project was completed at the end of the year. On July 24, 1996, the Suez Canal Authority decided to further increase the depth of the canal to attract more large tankers and cargo ships to use the Suez Canal to ensure that Egypt's revenue from the Suez Canal would not decline.
The Suez Canal is Egypt's third largest source of foreign exchange earnings after remittances and tourism. Canal Authority statistical reports show that in the 25 years from the re-opening of the Suez Canal in June 1975 to June 2000, Egypt collected US$30 billion in ship transit taxes. The total transit fee revenue in the 98 years from its opening to June 1969, when it was closed due to the Middle East War, was six times the total. According to the annual report released by the Canal Authority, 13,986 ships of various types passed through the Suez Canal in 2001. The total carrying capacity of these ships reached 456 million tons, and the ship transit fees collected amounted to US$1.9 billion. In the fiscal year from July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2003, Suez Canal revenue reached US$2.308 billion, a new high since the canal was opened in 1869.