Eider Canal

Eider Canal
Map of the Eider Canal (blue) and succeeding Kiel Canal in Schleswig-Holstein
Specifications
Length	107 miles (172 km) (Man-made segment ran for 26 miles (42 km)[1])
Locks	6
Maximum height above sea level	23 ft (7.0 m)
Status	Replaced by Kiel Canal
History
Date of act	14 April 1774
Construction began	1776
Date completed	1784 (1784)
Date closed	1887
Geography
Start point	Tönning (North Sea)
End point	Kiel (Baltic Sea)

The Eider Canal (also called the Schleswig-Holstein Canal) was an artificial waterway in southern Denmark (later northern Germany) which connected the North Sea with the Baltic Sea by way of the rivers Eider and Levensau. Constructed between 1777 and 1784, the Eider Canal was built to create a path for ships entering and exiting the Baltic that was shorter and less storm-prone than navigating around the Jutland peninsula. In the 1880s the canal was replaced by the enlarged Kiel Canal, which includes some of the Eider Canal's watercourse.^[2]