The Eindhovensch Kanaal (or Eindhovens Kanaal; Engl: ''Eindhoven Canal'') is a canal in the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the we ...

. It connects the center of

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Zuid-Willemsvaart The Zuid-Willemsvaart (; translated: ''South William's Canal'') is a canal in the south of the Netherlands and the east of Belgium. Route The Zuid-Willemsvaart is a canal in the provinces Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg (Belgium) and North Br ...

. It was dug in the period 1843-1846, commissioned by the town of Eindhoven. The canal is 13.9 kilometers long and runs by a number of Eindhoven industrial areas and the towns of

Geldrop Geldrop is a town in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is in the municipality of Geldrop-Mierlo, around 5 km east of Eindhoven city centre. Geldrop was a separate municipality until 2004, when it merged with Mierlo. Geldrop is noted ...

Mierlo Mierlo is a town in the southern Netherlands, in the municipality of Geldrop-Mierlo, North Brabant. Until 2004, it was a separate municipality with an area of . Mierlo is home to a few interesting buildings, for example the old Council house and ...

and

Helmond Helmond (; called ''Héllemond'' in the local dialect) is a city and municipality in the Metropoolregio Eindhoven of the province of North Brabant in the Southern Netherlands. Helmond is home to several textile and metal companies. The Vlisco fa ...

. The canal runs over the

Kleine Dommel The Kleine Dommel (small Dommel) or Rul is a Stream, brook in the Campine and Meierij van 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. History A brook with water mills The Kleine Dommel was originally a brook, meaning that it could be forded in many place ...

and the Goorloop, which are led under the canal by ducts. The canal has not been in use for commercial shipping since 1971. However, the canal sees much recreational use; it is used for

sport fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing ...

, there is a

bicycle path Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by motorists are also cycling infrastructure, except whe ...

and a number of local

rowing associations Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically att ...

use it for practice. The spelling ''Eindhovensch Kanaal'' is old-fashioned and the common spelling in Dutch is ''Eindhovens Kanaal'' nowadays. However, ''Eindhovensch Kanaal'' is still the official spelling.

History

After the resurrection of The Netherlands in 1813 and during the start of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

, the city fathers of Eindhoven felt a need to connect the city to the existing waterways. This implied the need for a new canal, due to the distance to the

Zuid-Willemsvaart The Zuid-Willemsvaart (; translated: ''South William's Canal'') is a canal in the south of the Netherlands and the east of Belgium. Route The Zuid-Willemsvaart is a canal in the provinces Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg (Belgium) and North Br ...

. The

Belgian Revolution The Belgian Revolution (, ) was the conflict which led to the secession of the southern provinces (mainly the former Southern Netherlands) from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium. T ...

delayed the construction of this canal, but a permit for a canal was issued in 1843. The permit was for a canal that crossed the

and the Goorloop, which necessitated the construction of ducts for those streams. In addition to those ducts ten wooden bridges were constructed, high enough to let

boats A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...

pass underneath. Finally, a

winding hole A winding hole () is a widened area of a canal (usually in the United Kingdom), used for turning a canal boat such as a narrowboat A narrowboat is a particular type of canal boat, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. The UK' ...

was laid in Tongelre and a

sluice Sluice ( ) is a word for a channel controlled at its head by a movable gate which is called a sluice gate. A sluice gate is traditionally a wood or metal barrier sliding in grooves that are set in the sides of the waterway and can be considered ...

was installed at the canal mouth in the Zuid-Willemsvaart. The completed canal was opened for use in 1846. The main use of the canal was in the transport of heavy goods: machinery for the industry as well as

bulk cargo Bulk cargo is commodity cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities. Description Bulk cargo refers to material in either liquid or granular, particulate form, as a mass of relatively small solids, such as petroleum/ crude oi ...

es of

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

and rough wool, plus wood for the

match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

making and

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...

box factories. Later on a steam connection to

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

was added, with the first steam boat traversing the canal in 1862. This brought new industry to Eindhoven around the harbor, such as the old Eindhoven gas works. This in turn inspired more infrastructure, including a tram bridge near Mierlo (the

foundations Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

of which are still visible). The Eindhoven Canal was widened and modernized between 1929 and 1934. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the internal shipping of the country (including to Eindhoven) temporarily rebounded. But the rise of motorized road transport soon and permanently killed it off again and the canal was closed to commercial shipping in 1974. There were plans for a while to drain the canal and lay a motorway on its bed, but those plans were canceled in the failing economy of the times. The canal is currently a quiet nature area for recreational use and is part of the Ecological Mainline.

Nature and landscape

The canal landscape is very interesting from an

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

point of view. The banks are lined with reeds and carices, the paths with wild flowers such as Solomon's Seal. The water hosts several remarkable water plants such as

potamogeton ''Potamogeton'' is a genus of aquatic, mostly freshwater, plants of the family Potamogetonaceae. Most are known by the common name pondweed, although many unrelated plants may be called pondweed, such as Canadian pondweed (''Elodea canadensis'' ...

water soldier ''Stratiotes'' is a genus of submerged aquatic plant commonly known as water soldiers, described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753. Several specific names have been coined within the genus, but at present only one is recognized: ''Stratiotes aloid ...

and the rare brittle waternymph (which spread into the canal in 1992). The old harbor area is also a nature area now, featuring several

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

of plants; very notable among these is the Forez striped fern, which was discovered in the harbor in 1988. The Eindhoven Canal crossed the drainage areas of the

and the Goorloop. This means that the bicycle patch along the canal is also a natural access path to the Hulsterbroek, Urkhovense Zeggen and Groot Goor nature preserves.

Monuments

The

lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and swin ...

over the canal in Eindhoven is an industrial monument (together with a number of nearby buildings, one of which – the former

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...

factory of Tongelre – houses the

DAF museum Daf ( fa, دف) also known as Dâyere and Riq is a Middle Eastern (mainly Iranian) frame drum musical instrument, used in popular and classical music in South and Central Asia. It is also used in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbe ...

). Some of the original street paving with the original

cobblestones Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Setts, also called Belgian blocks, are often casually referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct fr ...

has been preserved here as well. {{coord, 51, 26, N, 5, 29, E, display=title, region:NL_type:river_source:GNS-enwiki Canals in the Netherlands Canals in North Brabant Tourist attractions in North Brabant Transport in Eindhoven Transport in Helmond Geldrop-Mierlo Canals opened in 1846