The Corinth Canal is an artificial waterway that connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Aegean Sea through the Isthmus of Corinth, opening this route to maritime transport[2] and separating the Peloponnese from the rest of Greece.[3] It measures 6.3 km long[4] and was built between 1881 and 1893.[5] It was built by the Hungarian engineer István Türr") (1825-1908).[6] Under the projects of Ferdinand de Lesseps, which included Nero's old layout, Türr directed the works on the Corinth canal from 1881. The canal was inaugurated on November 9, 1893.[7].
The canal prevents small ships from having to detour 400 km around the Peloponnese peninsula, as it is only 21 m wide and 8 m deep.[8] Despite these limitations, about 11,000 ships cross the canal each year, mostly on tourist routes.[9]
History
First attempts
Although the project did not come to fruition until the 1st century, the idea had been conceived since at least the century BC. C., when the tyrant Periander of Corinth thought of carrying out a similar work but was forced to cancel it due to technical difficulties, insurmountable for the time, building instead a stone ramp over the isthmus of Corinth which is known as Diolkos, and whose remains can still be seen today running parallel to the canal.[5].
In the final years of the Roman Republic, Julius Caesar saw advantages in building the canal for his newly formed Colony (laus Iulia Corinthiensis). In AD 67, Roman Emperor Nero ordered the canal to be dug again, entrusting the work to 6,000 slaves. Nero died a year after work began and his successor Galba canceled the project because he considered it too expensive.[10]
The Greek philosopher and Roman senator Herod Atticus also considered digging a canal, but failed to launch a project.[11] The Venetians also considered it in 1687, after their conquest of the Peloponnese, but did not initiate a project either.[12]
Construction of the modern canal
The idea of a canal through Corinth was revived after Greece's independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1830. Greek statesman Ioannis Kapodistrias asked a French engineer to evaluate the feasibility of the project, but had to abandon it when the cost was estimated at about 400 million gold francs, too expensive for a newly independent country. French impetus was due to the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and the following year, the government of Prime Minister Thrasyvoulos Zaimis" passed a law authorizing the construction of the Corinth Canal. French businessmen were put in charge, but after the bankruptcy of the French company that dug the Panama Canal, the French banks refused to lend money, and the company also ended up bankrupt. A new concession was granted to the in 1881, which was commissioned to build the canal and operate it for the next 99 years. Construction was formally inaugurated on April 23, 1882, in the presence of King George I of Greece.[13].
Corinth Canal (Construction)
Introduction
The Corinth Canal is an artificial waterway that connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Aegean Sea through the Isthmus of Corinth, opening this route to maritime transport[2] and separating the Peloponnese from the rest of Greece.[3] It measures 6.3 km long[4] and was built between 1881 and 1893.[5] It was built by the Hungarian engineer István Türr") (1825-1908).[6] Under the projects of Ferdinand de Lesseps, which included Nero's old layout, Türr directed the works on the Corinth canal from 1881. The canal was inaugurated on November 9, 1893.[7].
The canal prevents small ships from having to detour 400 km around the Peloponnese peninsula, as it is only 21 m wide and 8 m deep.[8] Despite these limitations, about 11,000 ships cross the canal each year, mostly on tourist routes.[9]
History
First attempts
Although the project did not come to fruition until the 1st century, the idea had been conceived since at least the century BC. C., when the tyrant Periander of Corinth thought of carrying out a similar work but was forced to cancel it due to technical difficulties, insurmountable for the time, building instead a stone ramp over the isthmus of Corinth which is known as Diolkos, and whose remains can still be seen today running parallel to the canal.[5].
In the final years of the Roman Republic, Julius Caesar saw advantages in building the canal for his newly formed Colony (laus Iulia Corinthiensis). In AD 67, Roman Emperor Nero ordered the canal to be dug again, entrusting the work to 6,000 slaves. Nero died a year after work began and his successor Galba canceled the project because he considered it too expensive.[10]
The Greek philosopher and Roman senator Herod Atticus also considered digging a canal, but failed to launch a project.[11] The Venetians also considered it in 1687, after their conquest of the Peloponnese, but did not initiate a project either.[12]
Construction of the modern canal
Société Internationale du Canal Maritime de Corinthe
The company's initial capital was about 30 million francs, but after eight years of work it ran out of money and an offer to issue 60,000 bonds of 500 francs each failed as less than half were sold. The head of the company, the Hungarian István Türr), declared bankruptcy, as did the company itself and a bank that had agreed to raise additional funds for the project. Construction resumed in 1890 when the project was transferred to a Greek company, it was finally completed on July 25, 1893 after eleven years of work.
The channel experienced financial and operational difficulties after its termination. The narrowness of the channel made navigation difficult; Its high rock walls channel strong winds along its length, and the different tidal times in the two gulfs cause strong tidal currents in the channel. For these reasons, many ship operators did not bother to use the canal, so annual traffic was well below what had been anticipated, some 4 million net tons, but by 1906 traffic had reached only half a million net tons annually. By 1913 the total had risen to about 1.5 million net tons, but the disruption caused by World War I resulted in a significant decline in traffic.[14]
Another persistent problem was due to the highly faulted nature of the sedimentary rock, in an active seismic zone through which the canal passes.[15] The large limestone walls of the canal had been persistently unstable from the beginning. Although it was formally inaugurated in July 1893, it was not opened to navigation until the following November, due to landslides. It was soon discovered that the wake of the ships passing through the canal was undermining the walls, causing new landslides. This required further expenditure on the construction of retaining walls along the water's edge for just over half the length of the canal, using some 165,000 cubic meters of masonry. Between 1893 and 1940, the canal was closed for a total of four years for maintenance and stabilization of the walls. In 1923 alone, 41 thousand cubic meters of material fell into the canal, which took two years to clear.[17].
During World War II, serious damage was caused to the canal, as it was the scene of a battle due to its strategic importance. On April 26, 1941, during the Battle of Greece between defending British troops and invading forces of Nazi Germany, German parachute and glider troops attempted to capture the main bridge over the canal. The bridge was defended by the British, who had planted explosives to demolish it. The Germans were able to surprise the defenders with a glider assault in the early hours of April 26 and captured the bridge, but the British detonated the charge and destroyed the structure.[18] Other authors maintain that the first Germans to reach the bridge were able to cut the detonation cables, and that it was a shell launched by British artillery that caused the bridge's destruction.[19][20].
Three years later, when German forces withdrew from Greece, the canal was rendered inoperable by German scorched earth operations. German forces used explosives to block the canal, destroyed bridges, and threw locomotives, pieces of bridges, and other infrastructure into the canal to make repair work difficult. The United States Army Corps of Engineers began work on clearing the canal in November 1947 and managed to reopen it for shallow traffic by July 7, 1948, and for all traffic in September of the same year.[21]
Canal closure and reopening
In January 2021, it was closed due to a landslide, so the Government of Greece began cleaning work to avoid accidents.[22]
At the beginning of July 2022, it was temporarily reopened to allow tourist transportation for about three months, but without the cleaning work having been completed. The government scheduled that in October 2022 it would be temporarily closed again to finish the work.[23].
Design
The Corinth Canal consists of a single 8 m deep canal, excavated at sea level (so it does not require locks), measuring 6,343 m long and 24.6 m wide at its highest part and 21.3 m wide at its lowest part. The rock walls, which rise 90 m above sea level, are at a semi-vertical angle of 80°.[24][25] The canal is crossed by a railway, a road and a highway at a height of about 45 m. In 1988, submersible bridges were installed at sea level at each end of the canal, in the eastern port of Isthmia and the western port of Poseidonia.[26].
Although the canal saves about 700 kilometers (435 mi) of travel around the Peloponnese, it is too narrow for modern cargo ships, only allowing the passage of ships with a maximum width of 17.6 m and a draft "Draft (nautical)") of 7.3 m. Ships can only pass through the canal one convoy at a time, in a one-way system. Larger vessels must be towed.[26] The canal is nowadays mainly used by tourist boats: around 11,000 tourist vessels pass through it per year.[27].
• - Kiel Canal.
• - Nicaragua Canal.
• - Panama Canal.
• - Suez Canal.
• - Canal del Dique.
• - Great Lakes Waterway.
• - San Lorenzo sea route.
• - Unified Deep Sea System of European Russia.
• - Erie Canal.
• - Grand Canal of China.
• - This work contains a translation derived from "Corinth Canal" from English Wikipedia, published by its editors under the GNU Free Documentation License and the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Corinth Canal.
References
[1] ↑ Facaros, Dana; Theodorou, Linda (2003). Greece (1st ed. edición). London: Cadogan Guides. ISBN 978-1-86011-898-2.
[2] ↑ «Joyas del Peloponeso». El Periódico. Consultado el 11 de enero de 2016. - [http://viajar.elperiodico.com/destinos/europa/grecia/joyas-del-peloponeso/(imagen)/154729/el-canal-de-corinto-une-el-golfo-de-corinto-con-el-mar-egeo-por-el-istmo-de-corinto-creando-un-paso-navegable](http://viajar.elperiodico.com/destinos/europa/grecia/joyas-del-peloponeso/(imagen)/154729/el-canal-de-corinto-une-el-golfo-de-corinto-con-el-mar-egeo-por-el-istmo-de-corinto-creando-un-paso-navegable)
[11] ↑ Wiseman, James (1978). The land of the ancient Corinthians. P. Åström. p. 50. ISBN 978-91-85058-78-5.
[12] ↑ Setton, Kenneth Meyer (1991). Venice, Austria, and the Turks in the seventeenth century. American Philosophical Society. p. 344. ISBN 978-0-87169-192-7.: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_XN51y209fR8C
[20] ↑ Absprung über dem Isthmus, Hans Rechenberg, in: Wir kämpften auf dem Balkan: VIII Fliegerkorps. Dr. Güntz-Druck, Dresden. 1941.
[21] ↑ Grathwol, Robert P.; Moorhus, Donita M. (2010). Bricks, Sand, and Marble: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Construction in the Mediterranean and Middle East, 1947–1991. Government Printing Office. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-16-081738-0.
[25] ↑ Carydis, Panayotis G.; Tilford, Norman R.; Brandow, Gregg E.; Jirsa, James O. (1982). The Central Greece earthquakes of February–March 1981. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. p. 79.
The idea of a canal through Corinth was revived after Greece's independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1830. Greek statesman Ioannis Kapodistrias asked a French engineer to evaluate the feasibility of the project, but had to abandon it when the cost was estimated at about 400 million gold francs, too expensive for a newly independent country. French impetus was due to the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and the following year, the government of Prime Minister Thrasyvoulos Zaimis" passed a law authorizing the construction of the Corinth Canal. French businessmen were put in charge, but after the bankruptcy of the French company that dug the Panama Canal, the French banks refused to lend money, and the company also ended up bankrupt. A new concession was granted to the Société Internationale du Canal Maritime de Corinthe in 1881, which was commissioned to build the canal and operate it for the next 99 years. Construction was formally inaugurated on April 23, 1882, in the presence of King George I of Greece.[13].
The company's initial capital was about 30 million francs, but after eight years of work it ran out of money and an offer to issue 60,000 bonds of 500 francs each failed as less than half were sold. The head of the company, the Hungarian István Türr), declared bankruptcy, as did the company itself and a bank that had agreed to raise additional funds for the project. Construction resumed in 1890 when the project was transferred to a Greek company, it was finally completed on July 25, 1893 after eleven years of work.
The channel experienced financial and operational difficulties after its termination. The narrowness of the channel made navigation difficult; Its high rock walls channel strong winds along its length, and the different tidal times in the two gulfs cause strong tidal currents in the channel. For these reasons, many ship operators did not bother to use the canal, so annual traffic was well below what had been anticipated, some 4 million net tons, but by 1906 traffic had reached only half a million net tons annually. By 1913 the total had risen to about 1.5 million net tons, but the disruption caused by World War I resulted in a significant decline in traffic.[14]
Another persistent problem was due to the highly faulted nature of the sedimentary rock, in an active seismic zone through which the canal passes.[15] The large limestone walls of the canal had been persistently unstable from the beginning. Although it was formally inaugurated in July 1893, it was not opened to navigation until the following November, due to landslides. It was soon discovered that the wake of the ships passing through the canal was undermining the walls, causing new landslides. This required further expenditure on the construction of retaining walls along the water's edge for just over half the length of the canal, using some 165,000 cubic meters of masonry. Between 1893 and 1940, the canal was closed for a total of four years for maintenance and stabilization of the walls. In 1923 alone, 41 thousand cubic meters of material fell into the canal, which took two years to clear.[17].
During World War II, serious damage was caused to the canal, as it was the scene of a battle due to its strategic importance. On April 26, 1941, during the Battle of Greece between defending British troops and invading forces of Nazi Germany, German parachute and glider troops attempted to capture the main bridge over the canal. The bridge was defended by the British, who had planted explosives to demolish it. The Germans were able to surprise the defenders with a glider assault in the early hours of April 26 and captured the bridge, but the British detonated the charge and destroyed the structure.[18] Other authors maintain that the first Germans to reach the bridge were able to cut the detonation cables, and that it was a shell launched by British artillery that caused the bridge's destruction.[19][20].
Three years later, when German forces withdrew from Greece, the canal was rendered inoperable by German scorched earth operations. German forces used explosives to block the canal, destroyed bridges, and threw locomotives, pieces of bridges, and other infrastructure into the canal to make repair work difficult. The United States Army Corps of Engineers began work on clearing the canal in November 1947 and managed to reopen it for shallow traffic by July 7, 1948, and for all traffic in September of the same year.[21]
Canal closure and reopening
In January 2021, it was closed due to a landslide, so the Government of Greece began cleaning work to avoid accidents.[22]
At the beginning of July 2022, it was temporarily reopened to allow tourist transportation for about three months, but without the cleaning work having been completed. The government scheduled that in October 2022 it would be temporarily closed again to finish the work.[23].
Design
The Corinth Canal consists of a single 8 m deep canal, excavated at sea level (so it does not require locks), measuring 6,343 m long and 24.6 m wide at its highest part and 21.3 m wide at its lowest part. The rock walls, which rise 90 m above sea level, are at a semi-vertical angle of 80°.[24][25] The canal is crossed by a railway, a road and a highway at a height of about 45 m. In 1988, submersible bridges were installed at sea level at each end of the canal, in the eastern port of Isthmia and the western port of Poseidonia.[26].
Although the canal saves about 700 kilometers (435 mi) of travel around the Peloponnese, it is too narrow for modern cargo ships, only allowing the passage of ships with a maximum width of 17.6 m and a draft "Draft (nautical)") of 7.3 m. Ships can only pass through the canal one convoy at a time, in a one-way system. Larger vessels must be towed.[26] The canal is nowadays mainly used by tourist boats: around 11,000 tourist vessels pass through it per year.[27].
• - Kiel Canal.
• - Nicaragua Canal.
• - Panama Canal.
• - Suez Canal.
• - Canal del Dique.
• - Great Lakes Waterway.
• - San Lorenzo sea route.
• - Unified Deep Sea System of European Russia.
• - Erie Canal.
• - Grand Canal of China.
• - This work contains a translation derived from "Corinth Canal" from English Wikipedia, published by its editors under the GNU Free Documentation License and the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Corinth Canal.
References
[1] ↑ Facaros, Dana; Theodorou, Linda (2003). Greece (1st ed. edición). London: Cadogan Guides. ISBN 978-1-86011-898-2.
[2] ↑ «Joyas del Peloponeso». El Periódico. Consultado el 11 de enero de 2016. - [http://viajar.elperiodico.com/destinos/europa/grecia/joyas-del-peloponeso/(imagen)/154729/el-canal-de-corinto-une-el-golfo-de-corinto-con-el-mar-egeo-por-el-istmo-de-corinto-creando-un-paso-navegable](http://viajar.elperiodico.com/destinos/europa/grecia/joyas-del-peloponeso/(imagen)/154729/el-canal-de-corinto-une-el-golfo-de-corinto-con-el-mar-egeo-por-el-istmo-de-corinto-creando-un-paso-navegable)
[11] ↑ Wiseman, James (1978). The land of the ancient Corinthians. P. Åström. p. 50. ISBN 978-91-85058-78-5.
[12] ↑ Setton, Kenneth Meyer (1991). Venice, Austria, and the Turks in the seventeenth century. American Philosophical Society. p. 344. ISBN 978-0-87169-192-7.: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_XN51y209fR8C
[20] ↑ Absprung über dem Isthmus, Hans Rechenberg, in: Wir kämpften auf dem Balkan: VIII Fliegerkorps. Dr. Güntz-Druck, Dresden. 1941.
[21] ↑ Grathwol, Robert P.; Moorhus, Donita M. (2010). Bricks, Sand, and Marble: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Construction in the Mediterranean and Middle East, 1947–1991. Government Printing Office. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-16-081738-0.
[25] ↑ Carydis, Panayotis G.; Tilford, Norman R.; Brandow, Gregg E.; Jirsa, James O. (1982). The Central Greece earthquakes of February–March 1981. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. p. 79.