Canal
A canal is a human-made waterway or channel that is built for transportation, irrigation, drainage, or water supply. Although canals are among the oldest works of civil engineering, they continue to play a major role in commerce, as they are the cheapest form of inland transportation yet devised.
The earliest canals were built by Middle Eastern civilizations primarily to provide water for drinking and for irrigating crops. The Nahrwan Canal, 185 miles (300 kilometers) long, was built around 2400 B.C. between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (in present-day Iraq). Egypt's ancient pharaohs linked the Mediterranean and Red Seas with a canal that the Romans later restored and used for shipping.
The Chinese were perhaps the greatest canal builders of...
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