How Amsterdam doesn’t have canals

Amsterdam is famous for its canals. Except, it doesnt’ have that many. That is, in Dutch it hasn’t. The Dutch word for canal is kanaal, pronounced similar to canal. A kanaal is a wide and straight waterway used by small and large transport ships. The best known kanaal Amsterdam has is the “<a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3302132,5.01604,2a,75y,145.95h,83.92t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s81cq7r973zhIvKPnO7s6kw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D81cq7r973zhIvKPnO7s6kw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dsearch.revgeo_and_fetch.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D96%26h%3D64%26yaw%3D249.53825%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Amsterdam Rijn Kanaal</a>”, a kanaal connecting Amsterdam to the river Rhine. We also have the Marktkanaal and the Amstelkanaal — connecting the river Amstel to the river Schinkel. We have a few more that you haven’t heard of. When you visit Amsterdam, you take a canal boat tour. It takes you through waterways like <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3696347,4.8868812,2a,75y,8.77h,89.69t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sqfNs4pf_7GcV2tEhHPCVlQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DqfNs4pf_7GcV2tEhHPCVlQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dsearch.revgeo_and_fetch.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D96%26h%3D64%26yaw%3D273.5235%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">this</a>. You call that a canal. We call it a gracht. We have Herengracht, Keizersgracht, Prinsengracht, and a whole lot more. A gracht is a “canal” that was dug around the city for both defense and transportation. As the city expanded, new grachten — grachten is plural of gracht — had to be dug to accomodate the expanding city. <a href="https://medium.com/@christine_10050/how-amsterdam-doesnt-have-canals-76f7d5704dee">Website</a>