Carolina-Grand Canal

The Carolina-Grand Canal is a canal system extending from the River Urce to the Vandarch through Urcea, Kronenia, and Hollona and Diorisia. It was built to create a navigable water route from Urceopolis and the Odoneru Ocean to the Vandarch. When completed in 1880, it was the second longest canal in the world. It was the only effective route into the Vandarch until the construction of the Aburvrigeen Canal in the 1970s. It was faster than carts pulled by draft animals and considerably cheaper than railway travel given the considerable mountainous boundaries between Catholic Levantia and Ultmar, opening greater economic activity in the Vandarch and enhancing the growth of Urceopolis during the Aedanicad. It was widened in 1918 to allow for larger barges and even small warships, such as the Coria-class cruiser. Today, it largely serves as a waterway for recreational ships, but since 2030 there has been a renewed interest in the commercial applications of the Carolina-Grand Canal.

Contents

 * 1 History
 * 1.1 Foreign investment
 * 1.2 Opening of the canal
 * 2 Route

History
A canal reaching the Vandarch from the Sea of Odoneru has been posited since antiquity. Great Levantia attempted construction of a canal from the upper Urce River - similar to the route of the Carolina-Grand Canal - in the 200s and 300s AD before Gothic invasions lead to the project being relegated and eventually forgotten altogether as Great Levantia came to an end. The early Holy Levantine Empire additionally tried to construct such a canal, but dynastic feuding and feudal squabbles made the project nonviable. The notion was considered during the Renaissance period, but the lack of political unity combined with the conditions of The Anarchy made such a project unlikely. The first period in which a canal became truly possible was following the acquisition of the Grand Duchy of Carolina by Urcea following the War of the Caroline Succession, as much of the canal route was now firmly under the control of one party, Urcea. Consequently, the canal project was a priority for Urcea, but the Apostolic Kings repeatedly failed in the 1780s to acquire funding for the project from the princes of the Holy Levantine Empire and the Imperial Diet. The project was rendered moot when Urcea lost control of Carolina following the Second Caroline War.

The ascension of Urcea's King Aedanicus VIII in the mid 19th-century renewed the prospects for the construction of a northern canal. Construction of a canal, in addition to national pride, was a key consideration in the decision to wage the Third Caroline War. Urcea's victory in the conflict allowed construction to begin in 1865 during the Aedanicad, following two decades of planning and acquiring funds. Despite the hostile period of the Recess of the Julii, Urcea was able to come to agreements with Hollona and Diorisia and Kronenia to allow for ships to transit rivers under their control, completing the canal route.

Foreign investment
By the early 1870s the canals funding was flagging. Almost 10 years of construction had taxed both the coffers and local workforce of a number of communities across the canals span. Various zones were behind schedule and wage payment delays had plagued others with riots. The original underwriters sought new monies to stimulate the project and reinvigorate the workforce. Burgundie, having concluded its consolidation war and also having also abolished its lower nobility, was lousy with a rich and untested burgeoisie. They were looking to define themselves bith as an antithesis of the noble class and of the wastrel Derians. The original underwriters of the Carolina-Grand Canal saw them as easy marks. Millions of Talers were invested by the Burgoignesc gentry and they turned out, mostly, to be shrewd business partners. Originally there was tension with the Urcean owners as the Bergendii wrested various control measures in exchange for shares, but ultimately a general symbiosis was found and the canals construction was soon finished.

Opening of the canal
King Aedanicus was on hand with the canal's official opening in 1880, and his royal yacht sailed up the Urce River all the way to the Vandarch as the inaugural trip. Despite the prestige and economic opening the canal afforded, the canal was a main factor in the instability of Urcea during the 1880s, as its construction was part of the considerable debt the nation had acquired.