This 120-Kilometer-Long Canal Was Dug Entirely by Hand

It is 122 kilometres long, runs from Maastricht to Den Bosch and passes Maasmechelen, Bree, Weert and Helmond along the way. This canal, the Zuid-Willemsvaart, was dug in just four years between 1822 and 1826. An unprecedented achievement, especially when you realise that no machine was used. Some seven thousand men, women and children managed to do it by hand, shovel, wheelbarrow and basket. The first section of this waterway opened in 1825 and…