History of the waterways

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Waterways, which not only include canals but also all navigable rivers, have been used by people for travel in Europe since the Mesolithic at the latest . The finds of unseaworthy dugout canoes prove the existence of inland navigation at this time. Until the introduction of the horse in the Hallstatt period , the major river systems of Northern Europe were the main transport routes for heavy goods vehicles and passenger traffic. It can be assumed that the ceramic immigrants first opened up Northern Europe via the Danube and the Rhine . In the provinces of the Roman Empire , towpaths and canals were probably built for the first time . However, these can only be substantiated by writing and image sources.

The construction of the first artificial waterways, namely the canals, began much earlier in Asia and North Africa . This development is shown below - in excerpts - as capturing the complete development would go beyond the scope of an article in every respect .

There are two remarkably large periods. The first ranged from the 5th century BC to the 8th century AD. One reason for the lack of development during this period is possibly the lack of documentation of the required knowledge. The second major period from the 8th to the 19th century is due to the fact that humans and animals, as natural forces, made it possible for a ship to move against the current (uphill, upstream). A fundamental change only occurred with the invention of the steam engine in the 19th century and the diesel engine in the 20th century.

Antiquity

Pharaoh Necho II (reigned 610-595 BC), a son of Psammetich I, began work in Egypt on a canal connection between the Nile or the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Was completed under Ptolemy II . According to information from ancient geographers, there were already locks at the canal exits. Although it was partially silted up in Cleopatra's time, the canal was the geographical forerunner of the Suez Canal .

The largest ancient canal in the Middle East was the Nahrawan Canal along the Tigris near Ctesiphon . It came from the 3rd century, was 400 km long and 122 m wide.

The Roman canal construction was mainly influenced by military considerations. In Germania probably originated around 12 BC. The Fossa Drusiana , a canal that connected the Rhine with the upper reaches of the IJssel . Under the commander Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo , the Fossa Corbulonis was built from AD 47 , an artificial waterway that connected the Rhine at Matilo with the Meuse. This canal was 34.5 km long. Its width varied between 12 and 14 meters, the water depth was two meters. The Corbulonis fossa can still be seen in sections in the area.

In China it was probably from the 6th century BC. The Hong Gou Canal was the first man-made waterway. A better known technical achievement, however, was the Magic Channel (Ling Qu) from the time of Qin Shihuangdi around 219 BC. BC, who tamed two oppositely flowing rivers -Li and Xiang- and connected them with one another. It was planned by Shi Lu, initially served to supply troops and was the first canal that was led along contour lines in uneven terrain (32 km long). The Chinese Imperial Canal (7th century) is over 1700 km long, often 30 m wide, with a height difference of approx. 42 m. Individual parts of the canal were formed more than 2,400 years ago (end of the spring and autumn annals in the state of Wu).

In India, Nandivardhana (Śiśunāga dynasty) established in the 5th century BC. Ch. An artificial water transport route.

Europe since the 8th century

Canal du Midi
Canal de Saint-Quentin
Lock of the planned north canal

In the Middle Ages, waterways were the only alternative to land routes. The rivers were initially used as waterways. Because of the problematic water conditions in natural rivers for shipping, attempts were made from the 8th century to keep the rivers navigable by means of structures. In contrast to natural waters, the resulting canals offered numerous advantages: largely constant water levels and controllable currents. Because of the few developed routes, they were of great importance for traffic. They also served to develop the transport network.

River loop punctures were carried out from the 12th century and, together with dikes, formed the first possibility of correcting river courses.

In the 10-11 In the 19th century, settlements and markets emerged mainly at river crossings. The use of waterways posed problems: it was necessary to trek up the river, which means that horses had to pull the ship uphill. Of course, this was very time-consuming. Because z. If, for example, the terrain was too impassable, the animals first had to be brought to the other side, where they then moved on. The towpaths were used to pull the boats upstream with horses.

Heavy loads such as stones and grain were mainly transported on ships. One disadvantage was the ships' low loading capacity. One-way vessels have often been used to solve this problem. The wood from these ships was reused at the end of the voyage.

With the prosperity of the cities in the Middle Ages, the rivers formed the most frequented roads and trade routes. All too soon, however, the dynasts recognized a rich source of income in the waterways and therefore imposed high customs duties on them (see water shelf ). It took centuries before a better economic insight broke out in the ruling circles, which led to the abolition of river tariffs on most European rivers, at least insofar as they flowed in one country.

The invention of the chamber lock in the 15th century gave the impetus for the large canal construction in Central Europe. In France , the Canal du Midi was built under Louis XIV and Jean-Baptiste Colbert . Napoleon I later campaigned for a large canal building (e.g. Canal de Saint-Quentin ). During the time of the occupation of Germany, Napoleon began building the northern canal and designed a Canal de la Seine à la Baltique , which was to connect the Rhine with the Baltic Sea near Lübeck . In Belgium and the Netherlands , major canal construction also began in the 15th century, while Russia did not build large artificial waterways until 1700. Around the same time, the first major canal construction began in Great Britain ( Sankey Brook Canal , 1720).

Nordgeorgsfehnkanal (Moorkanal) 1910; in the background the Wiesmoor peat power station

Bog canals are a special case and serve a double purpose: firstly, they are supposed to drain a bog and, secondly, at the same time create the possibility of removing the peat extracted by barges . The oldest settlement that arose in this way is the Oude Pekela settlement in the Dutch province of Groningen . It was founded in 1599. The oldest German fen colony along several bog canals is Papenburg in Emsland, founded in 1630 . Most of the bog canals were built during the 19th century.

German-speaking area

Lock on the Ludwig Canal
Towing with draft animals on the Finow Canal

8th - 16th century

In 793 AD, Charlemagne succeeded in creating a connection between the Rhine and the Danube ( Fossa Carolina ), which, however, did not last for a long time. This was not realized until 1845 with the Ludwig Canal between Bamberg and Kelheim .

In Germany, smaller canals have been built since the 14th century ( Ilmenau-Elbe Canal , Neuss-Rhein Canal , Stecknitz Canal ), larger projects have been tackled since the end of the 17th century.

17th - 19th century

River straightening and the removal of navigation barriers increased navigability, for example on the Neckar . In the period from 1700 to 1850, the river expansion was systematized . At the same time, a first era of canal construction began in Germany. With the expansion and construction of the waterways, the local conditions for industrial production also changed. Larger manufactories emerged and factories made more efficient production possible.

With the advent of the railroad as a means of transport, plans to expand the rivers and build new canals initially stagnated. However, that changed after the establishment of the German Empire . As early as 1869, the "Central Association for the Improvement of German River and Canal Shipping" had been founded. The transport performance of the German waterways increased within 25 years (1875–1900) from 2.9 billion tkm to 11.5 billion tkm, with the route network used remaining almost constant at around 10,000 km. During this period, rail transport performance rose from 10.9 to 36.9 billion tkm. However, it must be taken into account here that the route network increased from 26,500 km to 46,900 km at the same time.

1882 to 2000

The old Henrichenburg ship lift, postcard (around 1900)
Old trip of the Minden waterway crossing (bridge of the Mittelland Canal over the Weser)
Barrage Augst / Wyhlen : Augst lock, Augst power station (covered by trees), weir, Wyhlen power station, Wyhlen substation
Rupture of the Elbe Lateral Canal near Lüneburg in 1976
The Altmühltal with the Main-Danube Canal near Riedenburg

The development of the Ruhr area through artificial waterways began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the construction of the Dortmund-Ems Canal , Mittelland Canal , Rhine-Herne Canal and Wesel-Datteln Canal . The Ruhr area, with its huge coal deposits and huge steelworks , was only able to achieve its later industrial size.

The Dortmund-Ems Canal was opened in 1899 after seven years of construction. At the same time, the first Henrichenburg ship lift - a masterpiece of engineering at the time - went into operation. This made it possible to secure the ore supply for Hoesch AG from Emden.

The coal supply has been secured via the Rhine-Herne Canal since 1915/16.

In 1905 it was decided to build the Mittelland Canal - it was finally completed in 1938 after 32 years of construction. The first section - to Minden - was put into operation in 1915. This was followed by the construction of the until then unique canal overpass in trough construction over the Weser . The Mittelland Canal crosses the Weser - like a bridge. This structure can also be described as a masterpiece of engineering. After its completion, the Mittelland Canal will connect the Rhine , the Ems , the Weser and the Elbe via the further waterway network of the aforementioned canals .

With the start of construction of the Mittelland Canal, central Germany was opened up from west to east almost synchronously. All of the aforementioned canals form a seamlessly connected network of waterways. With the exception of the Mittelland Canal, all other canals had already been developed for the standard barges from the Rhine (length = 85 m, width = 9.50 m, discharge depth = 2.50 and load capacity 1,350 t). This size definition was adopted for the so-called Europaschiff around 1960 (exact date unfortunately unknown) . The Mittelland Canal , on the other hand, had to wait around 40 years before it was completed.

In 1915/16 the Rhine-Herne Canal and Datteln-Hamm Canal were opened . With the opening of these two canals, the direct rise of the Ruhr area as an industrial area is inextricably linked. In particular, the Rhine-Herne Canal connects many coal mines that have been moved only through the channel in the location, the mined coal cost from the lovely area bring out Ruhrgebiet mentioned.

In 1930 the Wesel-Datteln Canal went into operation after 15 years of construction (with two interruptions).

Practically at the same time as the construction of the aforementioned canals, the canalized expansion of the Upper Rhine began , initially between Rheinfelden and Strasbourg , and later to Iffezheim . The Upper Rhine is routed in sections in a canal bed next to the actual river.

In 1913, the Kaiseraugst lock, which is probably unique in Europe, was put into operation together with the associated Augst-Wyhlen hydropower station . With this barrage Augst / Wyhlen it first became possible to Rhein to make beyond Basel to Rheinfelden navigable. Rheinfelden is thus also the Rhine shipping border . Overall, the canalization of the Upper Rhine took over 60 years - the last Iffezheim barrage was not put into operation until 1975 .

In debates in the German Reichstag after the First World War , there was talk of a “sewer psychosis”, since around 1920 plans to build canals all over Central Europe “shot up like mushrooms”.

1958–1964 the Moselle canalization and thus the navigability of the Moselle from Koblenz to Metz took place .

In 1975 the Elbe Lateral Canal was put into operation after eight years of construction. After only around six weeks of operation, it had to be closed again due to a dam break. It was put into operation again around a year later. The Elbe Lateral Canal connects the Mittelland Canal with the Elbe . The original justification for the construction was that the ore that is landed in the Port of Hamburg can be brought to the Salzgitter industrial region at low cost . However, it should be taken into account that the canal shortened the route from Hamburg to the Ruhr area and made the route via Magdeburg with two border controls superfluous at the time when Germany was divided.

In 1992 the Main-Danube Canal was completed. The dream of the European waterway builders - a continuous connection from the North Sea (the Atlantic ) to the Black Sea - has thus come true, which critics, however, rate as a "nightmare" ("billion dollar grave" for the taxpayer, loss of income for the railways, disfigurement of the Landscape).

But Europe was not only a huge construction site in the area of ​​inland waterways, there was also a lot going on in seafaring. The outstanding events were

In 1895 the Kiel Canal was opened after 8 years of construction. This created a direct connection from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea . In addition to a considerable reduction in travel time, the Kiel Canal also had the advantage that the dreaded journey through the Skagerrak was a thing of the past.

In 1931 the north lock in Bremerhaven was put into operation. With a length of 372 m and a width of 45 m, it was the largest lock in the world at the time .

Legal development

In the Middle Ages, traffic on the waterways was subject to high tariffs (see water shelf ).

  • Only the Peace Treaty of Westphalia concluded on October 24, 1648 (Art. 9, § 1 and 2) established the principle of free and unhindered navigation for the German Empire. The duties of the head of the Reich in this regard determined the electoral surrender, Art. 18, § 6–8, 17. However, the practical implementation of these principles remained for a long time due to the customs duties, staple rights and other rights on the part of the numerous territorial lords. It took centuries for river tariffs to be abolished.
  • The Congress of Vienna in 1815 transferred sovereignty for the construction and maintenance of the waterways to the respective states.
  • Article 4 of the German constitution of 1871 gives the Reich the right to oversee general traffic in the waterways.
  • In 1949, the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany established uniform federal competence for federal waterways.

outlook

In the period February 2003 - June 2004 a consortium worked on the project “PINE: Prospects for Inland Navigation within the enlarged Europe” (Prospects for inland navigation in the enlarged EU). The focus of the study was in the field of freight transport; The focus was on the four most important inland waterway corridors in Europe:

  • Rhine including tributaries (Netherlands, West Germany, North Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Switzerland);
  • East-West Corridor (North and East Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic);
  • Danube Corridor (Southeast Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria), and
  • North-South Corridor (parts of the Netherlands and Belgium, France).

In addition, the isolated waterway systems of Great Britain, Finland, Sweden, Lithuania, Italy, Spain and Portugal were considered. Based on a detailed and up-to-date inventory of the inland navigation sector, the present study shows the potential and the possibilities of strengthening inland navigation in an enlarged Europe.

Channels of global importance

The Suez Canal and the Panama Canal are of central importance for international maritime shipping .

The 126.2 km long Suez Canal was built between 1855 and 1869. It creates a direct connection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea and thereby shortens the sea route from Morocco to the Horn of Africa by around 4,700 nautical miles .

The 81.6 km long Panama Canal was built from 1906 to 1914. The canal cuts through the isthmus between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean in Central America . It is of particular importance for shipping from the east coast to the west coast of the USA .

See also

literature

  • Martin Eckoldt (editor): Rivers and canals - The history of the German waterways. Hamburg, DSV-Verlag. ISBN 3-88412-243-6
  • Rolf Meurer: Hydraulic engineering and water management in Germany. Past and present. Paul Parey Publishing House, 2000, 368 pages. ISBN 3-8263-3303-9

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ D. Ellmers, The archeology of inland navigation in Europe north of the Alps, in: Investigations on trade and traffic in prehistoric times in Central and Northern Europe V, Traffic, traffic routes, means of transport, organization, report on the colloquia of the commission for the antiquity of Central and Northern Europe from 1980 to 1983, H. Jankuhn (Ed.) p. 306.
  2. ↑ W. Torbrügge, Europäische Vorzeit (1969) pp. 192–197.
  3. ↑ D. Ellmers, The archeology of inland navigation in Europe north of the Alps, in: Investigations on trade and traffic in prehistoric times in Central and Northern Europe V, Traffic, traffic routes, means of transport, organization, report on the colloquia of the commission for the antiquity of Central and Northern Europe from 1980 to 1983, H. Jankuhn (Ed.) p. 308.
  4. ↑ That. P. 322.
  5. ↑ Werner Laschinger: Keyword: Channel ( memento of the original from March 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 8 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wernerlaschinger.ch
  6. ^ Otto Lueger: Lexicon of the entire technology . 1904. Lemma: Moorkanal
  7. ↑ Hans-Joachim Uhlemann: Elector - Kings - Emperors. A brief history of the Hohenzollern waterway construction . P. 3  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.schifferverein-beuel.de  
  8. ↑ Hans-Joachim Uhlemann: Elector - Kings - Emperors. A brief history of the Hohenzollern waterway construction . P. 10  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.schifferverein-beuel.de  
  9. ↑ Hans-Joachim Uhlemann: Elector - Kings - Emperors. A brief history of the Hohenzollern waterway construction . P. 14  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.schifferverein-beuel.de  
  10. ^ Reichstag protocols : Speech by Reich Minister of Transport Koch on the budget of the Ministry of Transport. Reichstag session on March 23, 1927
  11. ↑ The Prussian waterways in the past and future . 1920. (Map of the German shipping routes with all available waterway drafts p. 4)
  12. ↑ PINE - Prospects of Inland Navigation within the enlarged Europe. Summary . P. 2  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / ec.europa.eu