Pannerdens Kanaal

The breakdown Rdens channel (nl: Pannerdensch Kanaal ) is located between Doornenburg and Huissen. He is six kilometers long and 135 meters wide and connects the Bijlands channel with the Lower Rhine.

History

At the then current threat of war it was aware of the government at the time that enemies on the eastern border between Pannerden and Huissen could freely advance by the major western provinces. Therefore, the Dutch military architect Menno van Coehoorn Baron received the order to close the gap. Shortly before his death he put hand to the floor plan for a defensive wall ( Retranchement ) at Pannerden. From the small square of this moat, the channel is created later. Including the works for the Retranchement the channel 1701-1707 arose.

Since the Rhine and the IJssel silted more and more - in the summer no longer shipping time was possible - called 1702 the provinces of Utrecht, Gelderland and Overijssel, to open the channel. In contrast, the Waal Cities Nijmegen, Tiel and Dordrecht resisted. They feared a decline in their revenue from shipping.

It was not until 1771 agreement was reached, the connection to the Rhine was made, thus ensuring the supply of water to the Lower Rhine and IJssel. In the early years, but this often led to flooding.

At the beginning of the channel, the Rhine water distributed two-thirds to the Waal and one third in the breakdown Rdens channel. Flow two-thirds of the Lower Rhine and the rest of the IJssel at the junction of the river IJssel.

In addition to the shortening of the watercourse to Nederrijn this also had a strategic advantage for the Hollands Nieuwe Water line. With a flow rate of 700 m³ / s stood for both the defensive line as well as for shipping enough water available.

Fortification

The Fort Pannerden was from 1869 to 1872 built on the land between the Waal and channel to ensure the distribution of water. Remnants of an earlier fortification in the form of an in -built in 1742 Sternschanze ( Sterreschans ) are preserved under Doornenburg. These star jump was initially Nieuw- Schenkenschans ( New Schenkenschanz ), named after the abandoned Dutch fort from 1586 in Kleve ( Niederrhein).

Linguistic confusion

According to official sources the Dutch channel Pannerdensch Kanaal means. Although today's Dutch this name like to modernize breakdown Rdens Kanaal, this idiosyncratic naming is not right. Following the English Pannerden Canal could write in German translation Pannerden channel; However Pannerdenschkanal is correct.