In the 7th century bce the Assyrian king Sennacherib built a stone-lined canal 80 km (50 miles) long and 20 metres (66 feet) wide to bring fresh water from Bavian to Nineveh . The commercially advanced and level Low Countries developed a system of canals using the drainage of the marshland at the mouths of the Schelde Meuse and Rhine rivers about 85 percent of medieval transport in the region went by inland waterway. To facilitate transport of marble from the quarries for the building of Milan’s cathedral the canal was linked with an old moat and in Italy the first pound lock with mitre instead of the earlier portcullis gates was constructed to overcome differences in water levels. Source: https://www.artikelschreiber.com/en/.