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Canal through Zuid-Beveland
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==History== Planning for faster and more reliable route between the [[Port of Antwerp]] and the [[Rhine]] began with [[Napoleon|Napoleon I]], but this planning was interrupted by the declaration of the [[Kingdom of the Netherlands]] in 1815, and by the [[Belgian Revolution]] in 1830, issues which took precedence over the development of a new waterwater.<ref name="KIN">{{cite web |last1=Raat |first1=Roger |title=Kanaal door Zuid-Beveland |url=https://kanaleninnederland.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Kanaal-door-Zuid-Beveland-1.pdf |website=Kanalen in Nederland |access-date=30 May 2025}}</ref> With the [[Treaty of London (1839)|Treat of London]] in 1839, which recognized the independence of [[Belgium]], provisions were included that dealt with cooperation between the Netherlands and Belgium concerning how shipping between Antwerp and the Rhine would be handled; the Netherlands was obligated to keep a connection open between the two.<ref name="KIN"/> The planning for a new canal through Zuid-Beveland began anew when in the late 1850s, the Netherlands decided to build the [[Roosendaal–Vlissingen railway]], which necessitated the damming of the only two inland connections between the Western Scheldt and the Eastern Scheldt: the [[Kreekrakdam|Kreekrak]] and the [[Sloedam|Sloe]]. Construction began on the ''Kanaal door Zuid-Beveland'' stretching between [[Wemeldinge]] and Hansweert in 1863 and the canal was inaugerated on October 15, 1866.<ref name="KIN"/> The canal's traffic quickly grew, and another [[Lock (water navigation)|navigation lock]] apiece were added at each end to reduce congestion in 1872, and yet another lock was added in 1916 at Hansweert and one at Wemeldinge in 1928.<ref name="KIN"/> Even as far back as the 1920s, Belgium had begun seeking a more direct route and more modern canal between Antwerp in the Rhine. Belgium and the Netherlands negotiated for decades over the location and specifications of a new canal, and in 1963 the [[Scheldt-Rhine Canal]] began construction which was opened in 1975.<ref name="KIN"/> However, the Canal through South Beveland remained as a secondary route for tall ships which could not navigate under the lift gates of the Kreekraksluizen and the fixed bridges over the Scheldt-Rhine Canal. It was decided in 1976 to modernize this canal, as well, which included widening it, replacing the old locks at Hansweert with modern ones, and abandoning in place the locks at Wemeldinge, since the agreement with Belgium specified that there could only be three locks between Antwerp and the Rhine.<ref name="KIN"/> The new locks at Hansweert were opened December 2, 1987 and the reconstruction of the northern end of the canal - which relocated the entrance further east - was completed in 1993.<ref name="KIN"/> The abandonment of the locks at Wemeldinge left the water level of the canal subject to the tides of the Eastern Scheldt, though these had been reduced by the [[Oosterscheldekering|Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier]], especially to the level of the tides in the Western Scheldt.
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