Canals are so deeply identified with Venice that many canal cities have been nicknamed "the Venice of ..." The city is built on marshy islands, with wooden piles supporting the buildings, so that the land is man-made rather than the waterways. The islands have a long history of settlement; by the 12th century, Venice was a powerful city state.
Amsterdam was built in a similar way, with buildings on wooden piles. It became a city around 1300.
Other cities with extensive canal networks include: Delft, Haarlem and Leiden in the Netherlands, Brugge in Flanders, Birmingham in England, Saint Petersburg in Russia, Hamburg in Germany, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Cape Coral, Florida in the United States.
Inland canals have often had boats specifically built for them. An example of this is the British narrow-boat, which is up to 72 feet (21.95 m) long and 7 feet (2.13 m) wide and was primarily built for British Midland canals. Some canals has a limitation to boats of under 10 tons. Most canals have a limit on height because of bridges or tunnels.
Part III
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