This article aims to inquire into the constructive motivation and the efficiency decline of the Canal du Midi in Modern France. The original purpose of the Canal du Midi was to be a shortcut between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, avoiding the long sea voyage around hostile Spain and pirates. The strategic value of this is obvious and it had been discussed for centuries. The major problem was how to supply the summit sections with enough water. This was the problem that Pierre-Paul Riquet, a rich tax-farmer in the Languedoc region, who knew the region intimately, believed in 1662 that he could solve. He first had to persuade Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the finance minister of Louis XIV. A Royal Commission was appointed and in 1665 recommended the project which was finally ordered by Louis XIV in 1666. The Canal du Midi was opened officially as the Canal Royal de Languedoc in 1682. The construction of the Canal du Midi was considered by people in the 17th century as the biggest project of the day. Even today, it is seen as a marvelous engineering accomplishment and is the most popular pleasure waterway in Europe. But commercial traffic began to decline rapidly since the rail construction in the 19th century. Now the Canal has become more of a tourist attraction and place for leisure activities than a commercial trade route.

This article aims to inquire into the constructive motivation and the efficiency decline of the Canal du Midi in Modern France. The original purpose of the Canal du Midi was to be a shortcut between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, avoiding the long sea voyage around hostile Spain and pirates. The strategic value of this is obvious and it had been discussed for centuries. The major problem was how to supply the summit sections with enough water. This was the problem that Pierre-Paul Riquet, a rich tax-farmer in the Languedoc region, who knew the region intimately, believed in 1662 that he could solve. He first had to persuade Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the finance minister of Louis XIV. A Royal Commission was appointed and in 1665 recommended the project which was finally ordered by Louis XIV in 1666. The Canal du Midi was opened officially as the Canal Royal de Languedoc in 1682. The construction of the Canal du Midi was considered by people in the 17th century as the biggest project of the day. Even today, it is seen as a marvelous engineering accomplishment and is the most popular pleasure waterway in Europe. But commercial traffic began to decline rapidly since the rail construction in the 19th century. Now the Canal has become more of a tourist attraction and place for leisure activities than a commercial trade route.

Canal du Midi, Pierre-Paul Riquet, Louis XIV, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Modern Engineering