A canal is a waterway built by people to allow boats to travel or to move water from one place to another. Unlike rivers, which form naturally, canals are dug out and engineered to serve specific purposes.

The most famous canals connect large bodies of water that would otherwise be separated by land. The Panama Canal, for instance, cuts through Central America so ships can travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans without sailing all the way around South America, saving thousands of miles. The Suez Canal in Egypt connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, creating a shortcut for ships traveling between Europe and Asia.

Before railroads and highways, canals were crucial for moving heavy goods like coal, grain, and manufactured products. Cities along canal routes often became prosperous trading centers. Venice, Italy, is built on a network of canals instead of roads, and people travel through the city by boat rather than by car.

Irrigation canals carry water to farmland in dry regions, allowing crops to grow where they otherwise couldn't. These canals can stretch for hundreds of miles, bringing water from rivers or reservoirs to fields that need it.

In your body, you even have tiny canals: the ear canal carries sound waves to your eardrum, and a root canal is the narrow passage inside a tooth.