Rideau Canal is now a world heritage site!
The 202-kilometre Rideau Canal (from Kingston to Ottawa) became Canada's 14th internationally recognized World Heritage Site yesterday as the United Nations inscribed the landmark on its list of global treasures.
The Rideau Canal may be better known now as the world's longest skating rink, but it was born from a struggle of superpowers as Britain and the United States wrestled for control of North America.
The canal was built by Lieutenant-Colonel John By. It used a technology was called "slackwater". A large number of embankments and high dams were used to inundate shallows, swamps, and rapids, thus creating a series of impoundments deep enough to navigate the full length of the canal.
"It is the best preserved example of a slackwater canal in North America demonstrating the use of this European technology in North America on a large scale," UNESCO said in its letter of designation. "It is the only canal dating from the great North American canal-building era of the early 19th century to remain operational along its original line with most of its original structures intact."
The complete World Heritage List can be found at:
http://whc.unesco.org
I have only visited a very small percentage of sites in the World Heritage List.
Will I be able to visit all of them before I die??
Source:
Globe and Mail
Toronto Star
CTV
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