Construction of the Rideau Canal begins in…
September 1826 CE
Also known unofficially as the Rideau Waterway, it will connect the modern city of Ottawa to Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River at Kingston, both in Upper Canada
The construction of the Rideau Canal is a preventive military measure undertaken after a report that during the War of 1812 the United States had intended to invade the British colony of via the St. Lawrence River, which would have severed the lifeline between Montreal and Kingston.
The British built a number of other canals (Grenville, Chute-à-Blondeau and Carillon Canals, all along the Ottawa River) as well as a number of forts (Citadel Hill, La Citadelle, and Fort Henry) to impede and deter any future American invasions of Canadian territory.
The initial purpose of the Rideau Canal is military, as it is intended to provide a secure supply and communications route between Montreal and the British naval base in Kingston.
Westward from Montreal, travel will proceed along the Ottawa River to Bytown (today Ottawa), then southwest via the canal to Kingston and out into Lake Ontario.
The objective is to bypass the stretch of the St. Lawrence bordering New York; a route that would have left British supply ships vulnerable to an attack or a blockade of the St. Lawrence.
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Northern North America
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