title: Jacques Vallée

text: Following its sale in 1983, Vallée entered the venture capital sphere as a partner at Sofinnova. From 1987 to 2010, he served as a general partner of several funds in Silicon Valley, most notably as the co-founder of the family of three Euro-America Ventures funds in North America and Europe. As a private investor, he continues to serve as executive manager of Documatica Financial, a San Francisco boutique focused on early-stage healthcare and technology startups. Among the companies for which he spearheaded early-stage financings, fourteen achieved initial public offerings, including Electronics for Imaging, Accuray (developers of the "CyberKnife" for cancer surgery), NeoPhotonics (developers of nanotechnology for optical networks), Mercury Interactive, P-Com, Isocor, Regeneration Technologies, Harmonic Lightwaves, Ixys, Integrated Packaging, E.Piphany, Sangstat Medical, Com21 and Synaptic Pharmaceuticals (which specialized in neurotransmitter biology). Other companies financed by Vallée (most notably HandyLab, which produced an instrument recognized as being "transformative for oncology") were successfully acquired by Becton-Dickinson, Intel, Lucent, AOL, Cisco, Wilson Greatbatch and Intuitive Surgical.


title: Jacques Vallée

text: He has also served on the National Advisory Committee of the University of Michigan College of Engineering and authored four books on high technology, including "Computer Message Systems", "Electronic Meetings", "The Network Revolution", and "The Heart of the Internet".


title: Jacques Vallée

text: According to Vallée, he sighted an unidentified flying object over his Pontoise home in May 1955. Six years later in 1961, while working on the staff of the French Space Committee, Vallée claims to have witnessed the destruction of the tracking tapes of an unknown object orbiting the earth. The particular object was a retrograde satellite – that is, a satellite orbiting the earth in the opposite direction to the earth's rotation. At the time he observed this, there were no rockets powerful enough to launch such a satellite, so the team was quite excited as they assumed that the Earth's gravity had captured a natural satellite (asteroid). He claims that an unnamed superior came and erased the tape. These events contributed to Vallée's lifelong interest in the UFO phenomenon. Vallée began to correspond with Aimé Michel (who would become a key mentor and research collaborator) in 1958.


title: Jacques Vallée

text: In the mid-1960s, like many other UFO researchers, Vallée initially attempted to validate the popular Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (or ETH).


title: Jacques Vallée

text: However, by 1969, Vallée's conclusions had changed, and he publicly stated that the ETH was too narrow and ignored too much data. Vallée began exploring the commonalities between UFOs, cults, religious movements, demons, angels, ghosts, cryptid sightings, and psychic phenomena. His speculation about these potential links was first detailed in his third UFO book, "Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers".


title: Jacques Vallée

text: As an alternative to the extraterrestrial visitation hypothesis, Vallée has suggested a multidimensional visitation hypothesis. This hypothesis represents an extension of the ETH where the alleged extraterrestrials could be potentially from anywhere. The entities could be multidimensional beyond space-time; thus they could coexist with humans, yet remain undetected.


title: Jacques Vallée

text: Vallée's opposition to the popular ETH was not well received by prominent U.S. ufologists, hence he was viewed as something of an outcast. Indeed, Vallée refers to himself as a "heretic among heretics".


title: Jacques Vallée

text: Vallée's opposition to the ETH theory is summarised in his paper, "Five Arguments Against the Extraterrestrial Origin of Unidentified Flying Objects", Journal of Scientific Exploration, 1990:


title: Jacques Vallée

text: Scientific opinion has generally followed public opinion in the belief that unidentified flying objects either do not exist (the "natural phenomena hypothesis") or, if they do, must represent evidence of a visitation by some advanced race of space travellers (the extraterrestrial hypothesis or "ETH"). It is the view of the author that research on UFOs need not be restricted to these two alternatives. On the contrary, the accumulated data base exhibits several patterns tending to indicate that UFOs are real, represent a previously unrecognized phenomenon, and that the facts do not support the common concept of "space visitors". Five specific arguments articulated here contradict the ETH:


title: Jacques Vallée

text: Vallée's ideas about Miracle at Fatima and Marian apparitions are that they are a class of UFO encounters. Vallée is one of the first people to speculate publicly about the possibility that the "solar dance" at Fatima was a UFO. Vallée has also speculated that UFO activity may have caused other religious apparitions, including Our Lady of Lourdes and the revelations of Joseph Smith. Vallée believes that religious experiences such as these should be studied outside of their religious contexts.


title: Jacques Vallée

text: Via professional association with SRI and independent friendships with Harold E. Puthoff and Central Intelligence Agency analyst Kit Green (who obtained a temporary security clearance for him in 1974), Vallée was intermittently consulted on classified remote viewing research (including the Stargate Project) throughout the 1970s and 1980s. During the early SRI experiments (led by Puthoff and Russell Targ in conjunction with Green as CIA contract monitor), he became acquainted with Uri Geller, Edgar Mitchell, Charles Musès, Andrija Puharich, Jack Sarfatti, Arthur M. Young, Edwin C. May, Pat Price and Ingo Swann. In 1973, Doubleday editor Bill Whitehead introduced Vallée to Ira Einhorn, a close confederate of Puharich; their association would span Vallée's business and paranormal networks until Einhorn was charged with murdering his ex-girlfriend in 1979. More recently, he has been associated with Robert Bigelow as a consultant to the National Institute for Discovery Science and a member of the scientific advisory board of Bigelow Aerospace.


title: Jacques Vallée

text: In 1979, Robert Emenegger and Alan Sandler updated their 1974 "" documentary with new 1979 footage narrated by Jacques Vallée. The updated version is entitled "".


title: Jacques Vallée

text: Vallée served as the real-life model for Lacombe, the researcher portrayed by François Truffaut in Steven Spielberg’s "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". He also attempted to interest Spielberg in an alternative explanation for the phenomenon. In an interview on Conspire.com, Vallée said, "I argued with him that the subject was even more interesting if it wasn't extraterrestrials. If it was real, physical, but not ET. So he said, 'You're probably right, but that's not what the public is expecting — this is Hollywood and I want to give people something that's close to what they expect.'"


title: Jacques Vallée

text: Episode "Jose Chung's "From Outer Space"" of "X-Files" which aired on April 12, 1996 had fake alien pilots named Jacques Sheaffer and Robert Vallee. According to Robert Sheaffer this was a joke by the "X-Files" creator Chris Carter to name the characters after Vallee and Sheaffer. Sheaffer further states that "the M.P. who later arrested them [the characters] was Sgt. Hynek", a reference to ufologist J. Allen Hynek.


title: INS Viraat

text: INS "Viraat" (Sanskrit: Virāṭa meaning "Giant") was a of the Indian Navy. INS "Viraat" was the flagship of the Indian Navy before was commissioned in 2013. The ship was completed and commissioned in 1959 as the Royal Navy's , and decommissioned in 1984. It was sold to India in 1987. INS "Viraat" was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 12 May 1987, and served for almost 30 years.


title: INS Viraat

text: In February 2015, the Navy stated that "Viraat" would be decommissioned the following year. The last British-built ship serving with the Indian Navy, she was the oldest aircraft carrier in service in the world. On 23 July 2016, "Viraat" sailed for the last time under her own power from Mumbai to Kochi, where she was dry-docked and prepared for decommissioning. She was towed out of Kochi on 23 October, returning to Mumbai on 28 October, where she was laid up. "Viraat" was formally decommissioned on 6 March 2017. After the failure of plans to convert her into a hotel and museum, she was sold for scrap and planned to be broken up beginning in September 2020, but was put on hold by the Supreme Court of India after 40% of the body had already been scrapped.


title: INS Viraat

text: INS "Viraat" had a 12° ski jump to operate the Sea Harrier along with a reinforced flight deck, and of armour over the magazines and machinery spaces. The magazine capacity included at least 80 lightweight torpedoes. The vessel retained commando transport capability for up to 750 troops and carried four LCVP landing craft in the aft section. In a wartime scenario, the ship could carry up to 26 combat aircraft and was suited for supporting amphibious operations and conducting ASW operations.


title: INS Viraat

text: The aircraft on board INS "Viraat" were operated by four squadrons of the Naval air arm of the Indian Navy:


title: INS Viraat

text: Primary strike aircraft have been the Sea Harriers operating several modern missiles such as the British anti-ship Sea Eagle missile, and the French Matra Magic missile for air-to-air combat. Other ordnance has included 68 mm rockets, runway-denial bombs, cluster bombs, and podded 30 mm cannon. In 2006, the Indian Navy started the 'Limited Upgrade Sea Harrier (LUSH)' program by upgrading up to 15 Sea Harriers in collaboration with Israel by installing the Elta EL/M-2032 radar and the Rafael 'Derby' medium-range air-to-air BVR missile.


title: INS Viraat

text: The fleet also consisted of Kamov Ka-31 Helix-B airborne early warning aircraft and Kamov Ka-28 Helix-A helicopters.


title: INS Viraat

text: All Sea Harrier operations from the deck of INS "Viraat" ceased on 6 May 2016 following the retirement of Harrier fleet.


title: INS Viraat

text: INS "Viraat" was originally commissioned by the British Royal Navy as on 18 November 1959, 15 years after she was laid down in June 1944. She served as the flagship of the Royal Navy's task force during the Falklands War in 1982 and was decommissioned from active duty in 1985. In April 1986, "Hermes" was towed from Portsmouth Dockyard to Devonport Dockyard to be refitted, re-activated and sold to India.


title: INS Viraat

text: After evaluating vessels from several countries, the Indian Navy purchased the vessel in April 1986 and gave her an extensive refit at Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth, England, to allow for continued carrier operations into the next decade. New fire control equipment, navigation radars, improved NBC protection, and deck landing aids were installed in this refit. Boilers were converted to operate on distillate fuel.


title: INS Viraat

text: "India Today" in 1988 reported that then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi went to the Bangaram Atoll in Lakshadweep on a holiday with his family and other prominent politicians and media persons on board the INS Viraat. The allegation has been refuted by a retired Indian Navy officer, Commodore Ajay Chitnis, who was involved in planning former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's 1987 Lakshadweep trip.


title: INS Viraat

text: In September 1993, the engine room of the ship was flooded, putting the vessel out of service for several months. The vessel was back in service in 1995 and was fitted with a new search radar. Between July 1999 and April 2001, the ship completed another life-extension refit expected to extend her serviceability until 2010. This refit upgraded propulsion systems, added a package of sensors to sound emergency alerts and introduced modern communication systems. In addition, a long-range surveillance radar, weapon systems, and a new hangar with fire curtains were installed.


title: INS Viraat

text: The ship underwent a fourth refit in Indian service from January to August 2009 at Cochin Shipyard, Kochi. The refit was expected to ensure her continued service in the Indian Navy until 2015, and the ship went through exercises in the Arabian Sea for a month and a half before being deployed to the Gulf of Aden. Navy officers later reported that the carrier might be kept in service until 2020, as two Indigenous Aircraft Carriers (IACs) seemed likely to be fully operational by then. On 12 July 2011, the ship arrived at Cochin shipyard for a short refit scheduled to be completed in two months and it was repainted. Indian Navy indicated that the ship could remain in service until 2020, provided that there are still Sea Harriers available for ship-borne operations.


title: INS Viraat

text: On 2 November 2012, the ship arrived in Kochi for the first part of a major two-phase refit. In the first phase, the hull was cleaned, probed for corrosion, worn hull plates were reinforced and received a fresh coat of corrosion-resistant paint. The carrier sailed to Mumbai for further upgrades to her machinery before rejoining the fleet in the summer of 2013. The refit would enable her to serve through 2016 and was the final major refit before her decommissioning. In August–September 2015, the ship underwent a short refit to reinforce her hull and inspection before her participation in the International Fleet Review in February 2016.


title: INS Viraat

text: By 2013, "Viraat"s age and cost of maintenance prompted the navy to begin the process to obtain Defence Ministry clearance for her decommissioning; in December 2014, a review board was established to determine the ship's continued service life.


title: INS Viraat

text: In February 2015, the navy announced plans to decommission the ship in 2016 and began the process to obtain Defence Ministry clearance for the carrier's decommissioning. On 23 July 2016, "Viraat" sailed from Mumbai to Kochi for the last time under her own steam; by then, she had spent a total of 2,250 days at sea and had steamed a total of 1,094,215 kilometers. At Kochi, she underwent a month-long deactivation in preparation for decommissioning; during this period, her boilers, engines, propellers and rudders were removed. Deactivation was completed on 4 September, and the carrier was towed back to Mumbai on 23 October for her formal decommissioning ceremony. "Viraat" arrived in Mumbai on 28 October and was laid up. On 6 March 2017, she was decommissioned. "Viraat" was formally decommissioned on 6 March 2017. Her weapons systems and operational equipment were to have been removed by mid-2017.


title: INS Viraat

text: In July 2015, it was announced that the ship would be transferred to the Government of Andhra Pradesh for conversion into a museum ship at a cost of ; Chandrababu Naidu, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, confirmed the plans on 8 February 2016. By April 2016, however, the plans had apparently fallen through. A British businessman's proposal to preserve the ship failed when its crowdfunding campaign failed to make a tenth of its goal and it was stated that if "Viraat" was not to be preserved, she would be scrapped.


title: INS Viraat

text: On 1 November 2018 the Maharashtra cabinet approved the conversion of "Viraat" into India's first moored maritime museum and marine adventure centre, to be located near Nivati, Sindhudurg district. This proposal, which included a hotel, did not attract tenders because of high cost, and the state government abandoned it in November 2019.


title: INS Viraat

text: After an expert committee determined "Viraat" 's structural deterioration made her preservation unviable, the union government decided to scrap her and held an online auction; in July 2020, Gujarat-based shipping firm Shri Ram Shipping purchased the ship from the Metal Scrap Corporation for . She was scheduled be dismantled at Alang starting in September 2020. On 19 September 2020, "Viraat" was towed from her berth at the Mumbai Naval Dockyard to the scrappers at Alang in the Bhavnagar district of Gujarat, reaching the port at Alang on the evening of 22 September.


title: INS Viraat

text: On 28 September, "Viraat" was beached at Alang. At the end of September, a private Mumbai-registered company, Envitech Marine Consultants Private Limited, offered to purchase the ship from Shree Ram Shipping and preserve her as a museum and tourist centre, to be provisionally berthed at Goa. The Goa state government gave its support provided the project was approved by the Ministry of Defence, the necessary clearances were obtained and the state would incur no financial obligations. Shree Ram Shipping offered to sell "Viraat" to Envitech for , provided the firm receive the clearances and assume all cost and risk. Discussions were in progress as of 1 October.


title: INS Viraat

text: On 10 February 2021 a Supreme Court hearing stayed the dismantling of the ship. The Court heard that Envitech proposed to purchase the ship for RS 100 cr and sought responses from Shree Ram Shipping and the Ministry of Defence. On 10 April 2021, the Supreme Court informed counsel for Envitech that INS Viraat had already become private property of Shree Ram Group; who had testified that 40% of the ship had already been broken.


title: INS Viraat

text: There is a plan to have two of INS Viraat's anchors displayed at the Port Museum in Alappuzha, which is being developed.


title: Jack Burns

text: John Francis Burns (November 15, 1933 – January 27, 2020) was an American comedian, actor, voice actor, writer, and producer. During the 1960s, he was part of two comedy partnerships, first with George Carlin and later with Avery Schreiber. By the 1970s, he had transitioned to working behind the camera as a writer and producer on such comedy series as "The Muppet Show" and "Hee Haw".


title: Jack Burns

text: Burns enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1952. It wasn't long before Burns realized a military life was not for him: "the first week of boot camp changed my mind." He served in Korea, rose to the rank of sergeant, and was discharged around 1954.


title: Jack Burns

text: Burns began his comedy career in 1959, when he partnered with George Carlin; both were working for radio station KXOL in Fort Worth, Texas. After successful performances at a Fort Worth beat coffeehouse, The Cellar, Burns and Carlin headed for California in February 1960 and continued to work together for two more years. An album containing some of their material was released in 1963, titled "Burns and Carlin at the Playboy Club Tonight".


title: Jack Burns

text: Longer lasting was a later teaming with Avery Schreiber, whom he met when they were both members of The Second City, a live comedy and improv troupe based in Chicago. Burns and Schreiber were best known for a series of routines in which Burns played a talkative taxicab passenger, with Schreiber as the driver. During the summer of 1973, the two appeared on the ABC TV variety series "The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour".


title: Jack Burns

text: During the first half of the 1965–1966 season of "The Andy Griffith Show", in an attempt to replace Don Knotts' Barney Fife character after Knotts left the show, Burns was cast as Warren Ferguson, a dedicated but inept deputy sheriff. His character was not popular, and was dropped after 11 appearances.


title: Jack Burns

text: In 1967, he was cast as "Candy Butcher" in "The Night They Raided Minsky's". In 1971, he was cast as Mr. Kelly in "The Partridge Family" episode "Dora, Dora, Dora", (S2/Ep1). Hanna-Barbera gave the voice of Harry Boyle's reactionary neighbor, Ralph Kane, to Burns in the short-lived syndicated prime-time cartoon "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home". The series was a forerunner of adult animation comedies. Burns was the headwriter for the first season of "Hee Haw" and "The Muppet Show". Schreiber appeared on an episode with "The Muppet Show" during that first season. Burns also co-wrote "The Muppet Movie" (with Jerry Juhl, his successor as head writer of "The Muppet Show"). He hosted a 1977 episode of NBC's "Saturday Night Live".


title: Jack Burns

text: In the early 1980s, Burns became a writer, announcer and occasional performer on the ABC sketch comedy series "Fridays". He and comedian Michael Richards were involved in a staged on-air fight with Andy Kaufman, later re-created in the Kaufman biopic "Man on the Moon" (with Kaufman's longtime friend Bob Zmuda portraying Burns.)


title: Jack Burns

text: Burns teamed with Lorenzo Music to provide the voices for a pair of crash test dummies named Vince and Larry, respectively, in a series of United States Department of Transportation public service announcements that promoted the use of seat belts. Distributed by the Ad Council, the advertising campaign ran from 1985 to 1998. In 1993, he starred in the animated series "Animaniacs", as the voice of Sid the Squid, giving the character a raspy, Daffy Duck kind of voice. Schreiber also appeared on the show as the voice of Beanie the Brain-Dead Bison. Burns was a guest voice in a 1999 episode of "The Simpsons" called "Beyond Blunderdome".


title: Economy of Croatia

text: The economy of Croatia is a developing high-income service based economy with the tertiary sector accounting for 60% of total gross domestic product (GDP). Croatia joined the World Trade Organization in 2000, NATO in 2009 and became a member of the European Union on 1 July 2013. The Croatian economy was badly affected by the 2008 Global Financial Crisis which, together with slow progress towards economic reform, resulted in six years of recession and a cumulative decline in GDP of 12.5%. Croatia formally emerged from the recession in the fourth quarter of 2014, and had continuous GDP growth until 2020. The Croatian economy reached pre crisis levels in 2019, but due to the Coronavirus pandemic GDP decreased by 8.4% in 2020. Growth rebounded in 2021 and Croatia recorded its largest year-over-year GDP growth since 1991.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: Croatia's post-pandemic recovery was supported by strong private consumption, better-than-expected performance in the tourism industry, and a boom in merchandise exports. The first nine months of 2021 saw merchandise exports amounting to 13.3 billion euro, an annual increase of 24.6%. This made 2021 Croatia's record export year, surpassing 2019 by 2 billion euro.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: Tourism is one of the main pillars of the Croatian economy, comprising 19.6% of Croatia's GDP. Croatia is working to become an energy powerhouse with its floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal on the island of Krk and investments in green energy, particularly wind energy, solar and geothermal energy, having opened 17 MW geothermal power plant in Ciglena in late 2019, that is the largest power plant in continental Europe with binary technology and starting the work on the second one in the summer of 2021. The government intends to spend about $1.4 billion on grid modernisation, with a goal of increasing renewable energy source connections by at least 800 MW by 2026 and 2,500 MW by 2030 and predicts that renewable energy resources as a share of total energy consumption will grow to 36.4% in 2030, and to 65.6% in 2050.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: In 2021 Croatia joined the list of countries with its own automobile industry, with Rimac Automobili's Nevera started being produced. The company also took over Bugatti Automobiles in November same year and started building its new HQ in Zagreb, titled as the ‘Rimac Campus’, that will serve as the company’s international research and development (R&D) and production base for all future Rimac products, as well as home of R&D for future Bugatti models. The company also plans to build battery systems for different manufacturers from the automotive industry


title: Economy of Croatia

text: This campus will also become the home of R&D for future Bugatti models due to the new joint venture, though these vehicles will be built at Bugatti’s Molsheim plant in France.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: On Friday, 12 November 2021 Fitch raised Croatia's credit rating by one level, from ‘BBB-‘ to ‘BBB’, Croatia's highest credit rating in history, with a positive outlook, noting progress in preparations for euro area membership and a strong recovery of the Croatian economy from the pandemic crisis.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: In late March 2022 Croatian Bureau of Statistics announced that Croatia's industrial output rose by 4% in February, thus growing for 15 months in a row. Croatia continued to have strong growth during 2022 fuelled by tourism revenue and increased exports. According to a preliminary estimate, Croatia's GDP in Q2 grew by 7.7% from the same period of 2021. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected in early September 2022 that Croatia's economy will expand by 5.9% in 2022, whilst EBRD expects Croatian GDP growth to reach 6.5% by the end of 2022. Pfizer announced launching a new production plant in Savski Marof whilst Croatian IT industry grew 3.3% confirming the trend that started with Coronavirus pandemic where the Croatia's digital economy increased by 16 percent on average annually from 2019 to 2021, and by 2030 its value could reach 15 percent of GDP, with the ICT sector the main driver of that growth.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: Croatia will join both the Eurozone and Schengen Area in January of 2023 which will strengthen the country’s integration into the European economy and make cross border trade with both European countries and European trade partners easier. The minimum wage is expected to rise to NET 700 EUR in 2023, further increasing consumer spending and combating the high inflation rate.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: When Croatia was still part of the Dual Monarchy, its economy was largely agricultural. However, modern industrial companies were also located in the vicinity of the larger cities. The Kingdom of Croatia had a high ratio of population working in agriculture. Many industrial branches developed in that time, like forestry and wood industry (stave fabrication, the production of potash, lumber mills, shipbuilding). The most profitable one was stave fabrication, the boom of which started in the 1820s with the clearing of the oak forests around Karlovac and Sisak and again in the 1850s with the marshy oak masses along the Sava and Drava rivers. Shipbuilding in Croatia played a huge role in the 1850s Austrian Empire, especially the long-range sailing boats. Sisak and Vukovar were the centres of river-shipbuilding. Slavonia was also mostly an agricultural land and it was known for its silk production. Agriculture and the breeding of cattle were the most profitable occupations of the inhabitants. It produced corn of all kinds, hemp, flax, tobacco, and great quantities of liquorice.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: The first steps towards industrialization began in the 1830s and in the following decades the construction of big industrial enterprises took place. During the 2nd half of the 19th and early 20th century there was an upsurge of industry in Croatia, strengthened by the construction of railways and the electric-power production. However, the industrial production was still lower than agricultural production. Regional differences were high. Industrialization was faster in inner Croatia than in other regions, while Dalmatia remained one of the poorest provinces of Austria-Hungary. The slow rate of modernization and rural overpopulation caused extensive emigration, particularly from Dalmatia. According to estimates, roughly 400,000 Croats emigrated from Austria-Hungary between 1880 and 1914. In 1910 8.5% of the population of Croatia-Slavonia lived in urban settlements.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: In 1918 Croatia became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which was in the interwar period one of the least developed countries in Europe. Most of its industry was based in Slovenia and Croatia, but further industrial development was modest and centered on textile mills, sawmills, brick yards and food-processing plants. The economy was still traditionally based on agriculture and raising of livestock, with peasants accounting for more than half of Croatia's population.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: In 1941 the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a World War II puppet state of Germany and Italy, was established in parts of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The economic system of NDH was based on the concept of "Croatian socialism". The main characteristic of the new system was the concept of a planned economy with high levels of state involvement in economic life. The fulfillment of basic economic interests was primarily ensured with measures of repression. All large companies were placed under state control and the property of the regime's national enemies was nationalized. Its currency was the NDH kuna. The Croatian State Bank was the central bank, responsible for issuing currency. As the war progressed the government kept printing more money and its amount in circulation was rapidly increasing, resulting in high inflation rates.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: After World War II, the new Communist Party of Yugoslavia resorted to a command economy on the Soviet model of rapid industrial development. In accordance with the socialist plan, mainly companies in the pharmaceutical industry, the food industry and the consumer goods industry were founded in Croatia. Metal and heavy industry was mainly promoted in Bosnia and Serbia. By 1948 almost all domestic and foreign-owned capital had been nationalized. The industrialization plan relied on high taxation, fixed prices, war reparations, Soviet credits, and export of food and raw materials. Forced collectivization of agriculture was initiated in 1949. At that time 94% of agricultural land was privately owned, and by 1950 96% was under the control of the social sector. A rapid improvement of food production and the standard of living was expected, but due to bad results the program was abandoned three years later.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: Throughout the 1950s Croatia experienced rapid urbanization. Decentralization came in 1965 and spurred growth of several sectors including the prosperous tourist industry. SR Croatia was, after SR Slovenia, the second most developed republic in Yugoslavia with a ~55% higher GDP per capita than the Yugoslav average, generating 31.5% of Yugoslav GDP or $30.1Bn in 1990. Croatia and Slovenia accounted for nearly half of the total Yugoslav GDP, and this was reflected in the overall standard of living. In the mid-1960s, Yugoslavia lifted emigration restrictions and the number of emigrants increased rapidly. In 1971 224,722 workers from Croatia were employed abroad, mostly in West Germany. Foreign remittances contributed $2 billion annually to the economy by 1990. Profits gained through Croatia's industry were used to develop poor regions in other parts of former Yugoslavia, leading to Croatia contributing much more to the federal Yugoslav economy than it gained in return. This, coupled with austerity programs and hyperinflation in the 1980s, led to discontent in both Croatia and Slovenia which eventually fuelled political movements calling for independence.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the collapse of socialism and the beginning of economic transition, Croatia faced considerable economic problems stemming from:


title: Economy of Croatia

text: At the time Croatia gained independence, its economy (and the whole Yugoslavian economy) was in the middle of recession. Privatization under the new government had barely begun when war broke out in 1991. As a result of the Croatian War of Independence, infrastructure sustained massive damage in the period 1991–92, especially the revenue-rich tourism industry. Privatization in Croatia and transformation from a planned economy to a market economy was thus slow and unsteady, largely as a result of public mistrust when many state-owned companies were sold to politically well-connected at below-market prices. With the end of the war, Croatia's economy recovered moderately, but corruption, cronyism, and a general lack of transparency stymied economic reforms and foreign investment. The privatization of large government-owned companies was practically halted during the war and in the years immediately following the conclusion of peace. As of 2000, roughly 70% of Croatia's major companies were still state-owned, including water, electricity, oil, transportation, telecommunications, and tourism.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: The early 1990s were characterized by high inflation rates. In 1991 the Croatian dinar was introduced as a transitional currency, but inflation continued to accelerate. The anti-inflationary stabilization steps in 1993 decreased retail price inflation from a monthly rate of 38.7% to 1.4%, and by the end of the year, Croatia experienced deflation. In 1994 Croatia introduced the kuna as its currency.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: As a result of the macro-stabilization programs, the negative growth of GDP during the early 1990s stopped and turned into a positive trend. Post-war reconstruction activity provided another impetus to growth. Consumer spending and private sector investments, both of which were postponed during the war, contributed to the growth in 1995–1997. Croatia began its independence with a relatively low external debt because the debt of Yugoslavia was not shared among its former republics at the beginning. In March 1995 Croatia agreed with the Paris Club of creditor governments and took 28.5% of Yugoslavia's previously non-allocated debt over 14 years. In July 1996 an agreement was reached with the London Club of commercial creditors, when Croatia took 29.5% of Yugoslavia's debt to commercial banks. In 1997 around 60 percent of Croatia's external debt was inherited from former Yugoslavia.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: At the beginning of 1998 value-added tax was introduced. The central government budget was in surplus in that year, most of which was used to repay foreign debt. Government debt to GDP had fallen from 27.30% to 26.20% at the end of 1998. However, the consumer boom was disrupted in mid 1998, as a result of the bank crisis when 14 banks went bankrupt. Unemployment increased and GDP growth slowed down to 1.9%. The recession that began at the end of 1998 continued through most of 1999, and after a period of expansion GDP in 1999 had a negative growth of −0.9%. In 1999 the government tightened its fiscal policy and revised the budget with a 7% cut in spending.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: In 1999 the private sector share in GDP reached 60%, which was significantly lower than in other former socialist countries. After several years of successful macroeconomic stabilization policies, low inflation and a stable currency, economists warned that the lack of fiscal changes and the expanding role of the state in the economy caused the decline in the late 1990s and were preventing sustainable economic growth.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: The new government led by the president of SDP, Ivica Račan, carried out a number of structural reforms after it won the parliamentary elections on 3 January 2000. The country emerged from the recession in the 4th quarter of 1999 and growth picked up in 2000. Due to overall increase in stability, the economic rating of the country improved and interest rates dropped. Economic growth in the 2000s was stimulated by a credit boom led by newly privatized banks, capital investment, especially in road construction, a rebound in tourism and credit-driven consumer spending. Inflation remained tame and the currency, the kuna, stable.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: In 2000 Croatia generated 5,899 billion kunas in total income from the shipbuilding sector, which employed 13,592 people. Total exports in 2001 amounted to $4,659,286,000, of which 54.7% went to the countries of the EU. Croatia's total imports were $9,043,699,000, 56% of which originated from the EU.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: Unemployment reached its peak in late 2002, but has since been steadily declining. In 2003, the nation's economy would officially recover to the amount of GDP it had in 1990. In late 2003 the new government led by HDZ took over the office. Unemployment continued falling, powered by growing industrial production and rising GDP, rather than only seasonal changes from tourism. Unemployment reached an all-time low in 2008 when the annual average rate was 8.6%, GDP per capita peaked at $16,158, while public debt as percentage of GDP decreased to 29%. Most economic indicators remained positive in this period except for the external debt as Croatian firms focused more on empowering the economy by taking loans from foreign resources. Between 2003 and 2007, Croatia's private-sector share of GDP increased from 60% to 70%.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: The Croatian National Bank had to take steps to curb further growth of indebtedness of local banks with foreign banks. The dollar debt figure is quite adversely affected by the EUR/USD ratio—over a third of the increase in debt since 2002 is due to currency value changes.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: Economic growth has been hurt by the global financial crisis. Immediately after the crisis it seemed that Croatia did not suffer serious consequences like some other countries. However, in 2009, the crisis gained momentum and the decline in GDP growth, at a slower pace, continued during 2010. In 2011 the GDP stagnated as the growth rate was zero. Since the global crisis hit the country, the unemployment rate has been steadily increasing, resulting in the loss of more than 100,000 jobs. While unemployment was 9.6% in late 2007, in January 2014 it peaked at 22.4%. In 2010 Gini coefficient was 0,32. In September 2012, Fitch ratings agency unexpectedly improved Croatia's economic outlook from negative to stable, reaffirming Croatia's current BBB rating. The slow pace of privatization of state-owned businesses and an over-reliance on tourism have also been a drag on the economy.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: Croatia joined the European Union on 1 July 2013 as the 28th member state. The Croatian economy is heavily interdependent on other principal economies of Europe, and any negative trends in these larger EU economies also have a negative impact on Croatia. Italy, Germany and Slovenia are Croatia's most important trade partners. In spite of the rather slow post-recession recovery, in terms of income per capita it is still ahead of some European Union member states such as Bulgaria, and Romania. In terms of average monthly wage, Croatia is ahead of 9 EU members (Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovakia, Latvia, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania, and Bulgaria).


title: Economy of Croatia

text: The annual average unemployment rate in 2014 was 17.3% and Croatia has the third-highest unemployment rate in the European Union, after Greece (26.5%), and Spain (24.%). Of particular concern is the heavily backlogged judiciary system, combined with inefficient public administration, especially regarding the issues of land ownership and corruption in the public sector. Unemployment is regionally uneven: it is very high in eastern and southern parts of the country, nearing 20% in some areas, while relatively low in the north-west and in larger cities, where it is between 3 and 7%. In 2015 external debt rose by 2.7 billion euros since the end of 2014 and is now around €49.3 billion.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: During 2015 the Croatian economy started with slow but upward economic growth, which continued during 2016 and conclusive at the end of the year seasonally adjusted was recorded at 3.5%. The better than expected figures during 2016 enabled the Croatian Government and with more tax receipts enabled the repayment of debt as well as narrow the current account deficit during Q3 and Q4 of 2016 This growth in economic output, coupled with the reduction of government debt has made a positive impact on the financial markets with many ratings agencies revising their outlook from negative to stable, which was the first upgrade of Croatia's credit rating since 2007. Due to consecutive months of economic growth and the demand for labour, plus the outflows of residents to other European countries, Croatia had recorded the biggest fall in the number of unemployed during the month of November 2016 from 16.1% to 12.7%.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: COVID-19 Pandemic has caused more than 400,000 workers to file for economic aid of 4000.00 HRK./month. In the first quarter of 2020, Croatian GDP rose by 0.2% but then in Q2 Government of Croatia announced the biggest quarterly GDP plunge of -15.1% since GDP has been measured. Economic activity also plunged in Q3 2020 when GDP slid by an additional -10.0%.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: In autumn 2020 European Commission estimated total GDP loss in 2020 to be -9.6%. Growth was set to pick up in the last month of Q1 2021 and the second quarter of 2021 respectively +1.4% and +3.0%, meaning that Croatia was set to reach 2019 levels by 2022.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: In July 2021 projection was improved to 5.4% due to the strong outturn in the first quarter and the positive high-frequency indicators concerning consumption, construction, industry and tourism prospects. In November 2021 Croatia outperformed these projections and the real GDP growth was calculated to be 8.1% for the year 2021, improving its projection of 5.4% GDP growth made in July. The recovery was supported by strong private consumption, the better-than-expected performance of tourism and the ongoing resilience of the export sector. Preliminary data point to tourism-related expenditure already exceeding 2019 levels, which has been supportive of both employment and consumption. Exports of goods have also continued to perform strongly (up 43%yoy in 2Q21) pointing to resilient competitiveness. Expressed in euros, Croatian merchandise exports in the first nine months of 2021 amounted to 13.3 billion euros, an annual increase of 24.6 per cent. At the same time, imports rose 20.3 per cent to 20.4 billion euros. The coverage of imports by exports for the first nine months is 65.4 per cent. This made 2021 Croatian export's record year as the score from 2019 was exceeded by 2 billion euros.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: Exports recovered in all major markets, more precisely with all EU countries and CEFTA countries. Specifically, on the EU market, only a lower export result is recorded in relations with Sweden, Belgium and Luxembourg. Italy is again the main market for Croatian products, followed by Germany and Slovenia. Apart from the high contribution of crude oil that Ina sends to Hungary to the Mol refinery for processing, the export of artificial fertilizers from Petrokemija also has a significant contribution to growth.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: For 2022, the Commission revised downwards its projection for Croatia's economic growth to 5.6% from 5.9% previously predicted in July 2021. Commission again confirmed that the volume of Croatia's GDP should reach its 2019 level during 2022, while in 2023 the GDP will grow by 3.4%. The Commission warned that the key downside risks stem from Croatia's relatively low vaccination rates, which could lead to stricter containment measures, and continued delays of the earthquake-related reconstruction. On the upside, Croatia's potential entry into the Schengen area and euro adoption towards the end of the forecast period could benefit investment and trade.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: On Friday, 12 November 2021 Fitch raised Croatia's credit rating by one level, from ‘BBB-‘ to ‘BBB’, Croatia's highest credit rating in history, with a positive outlook, noting progress in preparations for Eurozone membership and a strong recovery of the Croatian economy from the pandemic crisis. This is also secured by the failure of the eurosceptic party Hrvatski Suverenisti in a bid on the referendum to block Euro adoption in Croatia. In December 2021 Croatia's industrial production increased for the thirteenth consecutive month, observing the growth of production increasing in all of the five aggregates. meaning that industrial production in 2021 increased by 6.7 percent.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: In late March 2022 Croatian Bureau of Statistics announced that Croatia's industrial output rose by 4% in February, thus growing for 15 months in a row. Croatia continued to have strong growth during 2022 fuelled by tourism revenue and increased exports. According to a preliminary estimate, Croatia's GDP in Q2 grew by 7.7% from the same period of 2021. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected in early September 2022 that Croatia's economy will expand by 5.9% in 2022, whilst EBRD expects Croatian GDP growth to reach 6.5% by the end of 2022. Pfizer announced launching a new production plant in Savski Marof whilst Croatian IT industry grew 3.3% confirming the trend that started with Coronavirus pandemic where the Croatia's digital economy increased by 16 percent on average annually from 2019 to 2021. It is estimated that by 2030 its value could reach 15 percent of GDP, with the ICT sector being the main driver of that growth.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: On Tuesday 12 July 2022, the Eurogroup approved Croatia becoming the 20th member of the Eurozone, with the formal introduction of the Euro currency to take place on the 1st of January 2023.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: Croatia is also set to join the Schengen Area in 2023. By 2023, the minimum wage is ostensibly expected to rise to NET 700 EUR, increasing consumer spending.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: Tourism is a notable source of income during the summer and a major industry in Croatia. It dominates the Croatian service sector and accounts for up to 20% of Croatian GDP. Annual tourist industry income for 2011 was estimated at €6.61 billion. Its positive effects are felt throughout the economy of Croatia in terms of increased business volume observed in retail business, processing industry orders and summer seasonal employment. The industry is considered an export business, because it significantly reduces the country's external trade imbalance. Since the conclusion of the Croatian War of Independence, the tourist industry has grown rapidly, recording a fourfold rise in tourist numbers, with more than 10 million tourists each year. The most numerous are tourists from Germany, Slovenia, Austria and the Czech Republic as well as Croatia itself. Length of a tourist stay in Croatia averages 4.9 days.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: The bulk of the tourist industry is concentrated along the Adriatic Sea coast. Opatija was the first holiday resort since the middle of the 19th century. By the 1890s, it became one of the most significant European health resorts. Later a large number of resorts sprang up along the coast and numerous islands, offering services ranging from mass tourism to catering and various niche markets, the most significant being nautical tourism, as there are numerous marinas with more than 16 thousand berths, cultural tourism relying on appeal of medieval coastal cities and numerous cultural events taking place during the summer. Inland areas offer mountain resorts, agrotourism and spas. Zagreb is also a significant tourist destination, rivalling major coastal cities and resorts.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: Croatia has unpolluted marine areas reflected through numerous nature reserves and 99 Blue Flag beaches and 28 Blue Flag marinas. Croatia is ranked as the 18th most popular tourist destination in the world. About 15% of these visitors (over one million per year) are involved with naturism, an industry for which Croatia is world-famous. It was also the first European country to develop commercial naturist resorts.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: Croatian agricultural sector subsists from exports of blue water fish, which in recent years experienced a tremendous surge in demand, mainly from Japan and South Korea. Croatia is a notable producer of organic foods and much of it is exported to the European Union. Croatian wines, olive oil and lavender are particularly sought after.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products, like apple (93 thousand tons), triticale (62 thousand tons) and olive (28 thousand tons).


title: Economy of Croatia

text: The highlight of Croatia's recent infrastructure developments is its rapidly developed motorway network, largely built in the late 1990s and especially in the 2000s. By January 2022, Croatia had completed more than of motorways, connecting Zagreb to most other regions and following various European routes and four Pan-European corridors. The busiest motorways are the A1, connecting Zagreb to Split and the A3, passing east–west through northwest Croatia and Slavonia. A widespread network of state roads in Croatia acts as motorway feeder roads while connecting all major settlements in the country. The high quality and safety levels of the Croatian motorway network were tested and confirmed by several EuroTAP and EuroTest programs.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: Croatia has an extensive rail network spanning , including of electrified railways and of double track railways. The most significant railways in Croatia are found within the Pan-European transport corridors Vb and X connecting Rijeka to Budapest and Ljubljana to Belgrade, both via Zagreb. All rail services are operated by Croatian Railways.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: There are international airports in Zagreb, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Rijeka, Osijek and Pula. As of January 2011, Croatia complies with International Civil Aviation Organization aviation safety standards and the Federal Aviation Administration upgraded it to Category 1 rating.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: The busiest cargo seaport in Croatia is the Port of Rijeka and the busiest passenger ports are Split and Zadar. In addition to those, a large number of minor ports serve an extensive system of ferries connecting numerous islands and coastal cities in addition to ferry lines to several cities in Italy. The largest river port is Vukovar, located on the Danube, representing the nation's outlet to the Pan-European transport corridor VII.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: There are of crude oil pipelines in Croatia, connecting the Port of Rijeka oil terminal with refineries in Rijeka and Sisak, as well as several transhipment terminals. The system has a capacity of 20 million tonnes per year. The natural gas transportation system comprises of trunk and regional natural gas pipelines, and more than 300 associated structures, connecting production rigs, the Okoli natural gas storage facility, 27 end-users and 37 distribution systems.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: Croatian production of energy sources covers 85% of nationwide natural gas demand and 19% of oil demand. In 2008, 47.6% of Croatia's primary energy production structure comprised use of natural gas (47.7%), crude oil (18.0%), fuel wood (8.4%), hydro power (25.4%) and other renewable energy sources (0.5%). In 2009, net total electrical power production in Croatia reached 12,725 GWh and Croatia imported 28.5% of its electric power energy needs. The bulk of Croatian imports are supplied by the Krško Nuclear Power Plant in Slovenia, 50% owned by Hrvatska elektroprivreda, providing 15% of Croatia's electricity.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: The following table shows the main economic indicators for the period 2000–2021 according to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics.


title: Economy of Croatia

text: chemicals and plastics, machine tools, fabricated metal, electronics, pig iron and rolled steel products, aluminum, paper, wood products, construction materials, textiles, shipbuilding, petroleum and petroleum refining, food and beverages, tourism


title: Canal du Midi

text: The Canal du Midi (; ) is a long canal in Southern France (). Originally named the "Canal royal en Languedoc" (Royal Canal in Languedoc) and renamed by French revolutionaries to "Canal du Midi" in 1789, the canal is considered one of the greatest construction works of the 17th century.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The canal connects the Garonne to the Étang de Thau on the Mediterranean and, along with the long Canal de Garonne, forms the Canal des Deux Mers, joining the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Strictly speaking, ""Canal du Midi"" refers to the portion initially constructed from Toulouse to the Mediterranean – the Deux-Mers canal project aimed to link together several sections of navigable waterways to join the Mediterranean and the Atlantic: first the Canal du Midi, then the Garonne which was more or less navigable between Toulouse and Bordeaux, then the Garonne Lateral Canal built later, and finally the Gironde estuary after Bordeaux.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Jean-Baptiste Colbert authorized the start of work by royal edict in October, 1666, with the aim of developing the wheat trade, under the supervision of Pierre-Paul Riquet, and construction lasted from 1666 to 1681, during the reign of Louis XIV. The Canal du Midi is one of the oldest canals of Europe still in operation (the prototype being the Briare Canal). The challenges in these works are closely related to the challenges of inland water transport today. The key challenge, raised by Pierre-Paul Riquet, was to convey water from the Montagne Noire (Black Mountains) to the Seuil de Naurouze, the highest point of the canal.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The Canal du Midi was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, because of its outstanding engineering and artistic design, and it was designated as an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 2016.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The Canal du Midi is located in the south of France, in the departments of Hérault, Aude, and Haute-Garonne. Is long, starting in the west at Port de l'Embouchure, Toulouse and terminating in the east at a place called "Les Onglous", Marseillan, where the canal opens into the étang de Thau (between Agde and Sète).


title: Canal du Midi

text: The Canal du Midi is a summit-level canal, climbing from Toulouse on the Atlantic side over a distance of to the Seuil de Naurouze or summit level, where the feeder canal enters. The total rise is , and the summit level is at an altitude of . This difference in level down to the sea is covered over the remaining distance of from Naurouze to Les Onglous on the Étang de Thau.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The design canal depth is with a minimum of . The draft allowed is although regular users advise that even with boats will occasionally touch the bottom because of silt deposits in many places. The width on the surface is on average with variations between and . Finally, the width of the canal bed is .


title: Canal du Midi

text: This longitudinal profile of the Canal du Midi shows it rising from Toulouse (1) to the Seuil de Naurouze (2), then dropping down to Castelnaudary (3), Carcassonne (4) and Trèbes (5). The canal continues to Béziers after the passing through the Fonserannes Locks (6), then Agde (7), to finish at Sète on the étang de Thau (8).


title: Canal du Midi

text: The longest canal pound is between Argens Lock and the Fonserannes Locks, while the shortest Canal pound is between the two Fresquel locks.


title: Canal du Midi

text: For historical reasons, the Canal du Midi has a unique legal status, which was codified in 1956 in the "Public Code of waterways and inland navigation", then in the "General code of the property of public persons". Under Article L. 2111-11 of the Code, the public domain of the canal is determined by reference to the fief once granted to Pierre-Paul Riquet and limits were set by the official report drawn up in 1772. The staff quarters and warehouses, as well as the Lampy reservoir, were also added. Articles L. 2124-20 to L. 2124-25 set out the rules relating to the maintenance of the canal which is generally the responsibility of the public entity that owns it, with the participation of communes and, in some cases, waterside residents.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Under the Act of 27 November 1897, the State of France owns the Canal du Midi and its management is delegated to the public body Voies Navigables de France, attached to the Ministry of Transport.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The building of a canal was an old idea. Numerous and sometimes utopian projects were devised to build a canal between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Leaders such as Augustus, Nero, Charlemagne, François I, Charles IX and Henry IV had dreamed of it, as it is a true political and economic issue. King François I brought Leonardo da Vinci to France in 1516 and commissioned a survey of a route from the Garonne at Toulouse to the Aude at Carcassonne.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The construction of such a structure would save vessels (of trade but also the king's galleys) and goods from sailing around the Iberian Peninsula which could take a month to complete. At that time shipping was fraught with dangers such as piracy and the Barbary pirates.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The most realistic projects were presented to the King in the 16th century. A first draft was presented by Nicolas Bachelier in 1539 to the Estates of Languedoc then a second in 1598 by Pierre Reneau and finally a third project was proposed by Bernard Aribat de Béziers in 1617. These projects were abandoned because they did not give enough thought to the water supply for the canal and provided a system of diversion of water from Pyrénées rivers too complex or impossible to implement. In 1650 another engineer also proposed to divert water from the Ariège to Cintegabelle to bring a non-navigable canal to Pech-David near Toulouse. Again, the question arose of how to carry water to the Seuil de Naurouze at a greater height than that of Toulouse.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The projects were not launched for fear of losing too much money and conviction of the human impossibility to dig such a canal. The major problem was how to supply the summit sections with enough water.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Nevertheless, Pierre-Paul Riquet, a wealthy collector of salt tax in Languedoc proposed a more convincing project than his predecessors. When Louis XIV received his proposal through the Archbishop of Toulouse (Charles-François Anglure of Bourlemont) in 1662 he saw the opportunity to deprive Spain of part of its resources, and the opportunity to mark his reign with an imperishable work.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Compared to canals, managing rivers is difficult but only one canal is required between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Unlike a river, it is easier to manage the flow of a canal to ensure a constant flow of traffic throughout the year.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The Canal du Midi is a summit-level canal because it must pass over a height between two valleys. The construction of this canal required passage through the Seuil de Naurouze or the Seuil de Graissens.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Thirty years passed from the start of planning to the commencement of work: a similar project was also studied by a committee of which Riquet's father was a member.


title: Canal du Midi

text: In 1660, Riquet found the solution to the main problem: the water supply to the summit point to feed both sides of the canal. His idea was to get water flowing from the Montagne Noire. His important knowledge of the hydrography of the Montagne Noire and Sor allowed him to imagine an ingenious irrigation system. He was inspired by the French engineer Adam de Craponne who had implemented the same system for the Craponne Canal.


title: Canal du Midi

text: For this, he planned to recover the mountain waters in dams and reservoirs and then forward them to the Seuil de Naurouze through channels crossing the Seuil de Graissens. The water from the Sor passing near Revel was the main supply envisaged by Riquet. Other rivers from the Montagne Noire were also part of the system such as the Alzeau, the Laudot, the Rieutort, the Bernassonne, and the . The Montagne Noire is a region with twice the rainfall of the plain of Lauragais with 1400 millimetres per year at around above sea level. To store the river water he planned to create three basins: the Reservoir of Lampy-Vieux, a hexagonal harbour basin at Naurouze, and the Bassin de Saint-Ferréol with a large earth dam across the mouth of the valley of the Laudot stream.


title: Canal du Midi

text: In 1664, during the study of the project, the Estates of Languedoc asked Riquet to put into practice his idea experimentally. He then built a test channel diverting water from the Sor to the Seuil de Naurouze. It was the Rigole de la plaine which he completed in 1665 and used to prove that it is possible to bring water to the highest points of the course of the canal. This was the event that reassured the Committee of Experts that the king had set up on site to inspect the choices and plans prepared by Riquet. From that moment Louis XIV knew that the canal was technically feasible.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Riquet studied in depth the supply of water to the canal at the Seuil de Naurouze. His study appeared rigorous and included a pilot phase with the construction of the Rigole de la plaine to substantiate his claim. The project still remained unclear in many respects especially the route of the canal. This route was not final and was not precise as it would be today for a highway project or high-speed railway. Only the directions of the route were known and plotted on a map. Changes in the route could be made by the Contractor depending on the difficulties he encountered on the ground.


title: Canal du Midi

text: On the Atlantic side, he proposed several layouts: one to pass by Castres and Revel through the Seuil de Graissens and Agout. In fact, this river was already under development for navigation. Another route would pass by the Girou river and avoid Toulouse as in the preceding route. On the Mediterranean side, the route was not set. He would use the Fresquel until the Aude but the arrival on the coast was first intended to be at Narbonne then at Sète.


title: Canal du Midi

text: In 1663 Riquet conducted field studies to finally fix the path on the Atlantic side by the seuil de Naurouze along the valley of the Hers-Vif to Toulouse downstream of the Garonne. The navigable part of the river is downstream of Bazacle which was a ford in the centre of Toulouse, blocking navigation. The canal could not consider not going through the economic heart of the region so therefore the final route was via Castres and the Girou.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Pierre-Paul Riquet had no technical training and learnt on the job. He regularly practised experiments and field observations. His technique remained highly empirical because at that time applied science and hydraulic techniques through laws or concepts had not been mastered. Even so, Riquet had a scientific approach as he systematically took measurements of flow and made calculations of volumes. In addition, to overcome his technical shortcomings, he was surrounded by many technicians such as Hector Boutheroüe, François Andreossy surveyor and cartographer, and Pierre Campmas an expert in water flows.


title: Canal du Midi

text: He set up experiments to prove that it was possible to bring the water to the Seuil de Naurouze from the river Sor in the Montagne Noire. At his own expense, of 200,000 livres, he built a test canal, only two feet wide, and on the 9 November 1665 he opened the flow successfully. When the canal was authorized the next year, this test rigole would become the Rigole de la plaine. He also built on his property in Bonrepos a model of the canal with locks, tunnels, and "épanchoirs" (spillways) reproducing the slopes and feeding all with water.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The economic situation of the country was quite difficult at the time. When Colbert became minister he believed that domestic and international trade was not in favour of the Kingdom of France. The Dutch could take better advantage of trade and economic activity in the country. The prices of Grain dropped a lot and wine production fell in 1660. This crisis caused depreciation of land values and small farms were going bankrupt. In addition, the region of Languedoc experienced religious conflict during the Fronde. It was difficult to implement a policy in this area and in particular to introduce taxes such as the salt tax.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Colbert then saw Pierre-Paul Riquet and his project as a way to pursue a policy of economic expansion in the service of absolutism in Languedoc. In fact, Riquet proposed himself to implement the salt tax and to build the Canal du Midi. Thus, the construction of the canal would permit the creation of a direct passage between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic without passing through the Strait of Gibraltar controlled by the Spaniards, the aim being to destroy the Spanish trade and establish a commercial flow through Languedoc. The Languedoc region had many resources such as wheat, wine from Minervois, woollen cloth, silk, and salt which producers were struggling to export due to lack of trade. By passing through the Canal du Midi, Colbert hoped to distribute goods in the different regions of "le Midi" to strengthen royal power and open up Toulouse and its region.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Despite a project that seemed precarious, Colbert authorized commencement of work by a royal edict in October 1666 after the approval of a committee of experts that looked at the route of the canal for several months. The project benefited significantly from the appointment of an engineer for fortifications and hydraulics – Louis Nicolas de Clerville – who used his influence with Colbert to start the project. The decree specified the authorization of the construction of the canal, its issuing of invitations to tender, and its awarding to the designer, Pierre-Paul Riquet, and his descendants. It also gave rights of expropriation to Riquet and describes the possibility of creating mills, warehouses and housing for the operation of the canal. The project formed a tax-exempt "fief" whose owner had the rights of fishing and hunting. Finally, it describes the operating procedures including the introduction of tolls, traffic organization, and ownership of vessels. The king decided to cede the ownership and operation of the facility in a particular order to overcome the potential drawbacks of a work so great. This system ensured the continued maintenance and operation of the canal even if the state's finances are at their lowest.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The work was launched in two phases each called an "enterprise". The first enterprise of connecting Toulouse to Trèbes was estimated at 3.6 million livres. The finances of the State, however, were not very sound and the Estates of Languedoc were not willing to fund such a project for fear that their funds would be used for unexpected expenses. So, in exchange for the ownership and operation of the canal, Pierre-Paul Riquet proposed to finance part of the works from his own funds. The rest was to be paid by the State in exchange for profits that Riquet earned from the salt tax. The second enterprise of works between Trèbes and the étang de Thau in December 1668 cost 5.832 million livres plus a million more livres for the resumption of work on the port of Sète.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Ultimately, while the initial budget was six million livres, all the work together would cost between 17 and 18 million livres of the time, 40% was advanced by the King, 40% by the province, and 20% by Riquet himself, who became the owner. His descendants continued to pay two million livres for over 50 years.


title: Canal du Midi

text: At the age of 63, Riquet started his great enterprise, sending his personal engineer, François Andreossy, and a local water expert, Pierre Roux, to the Montagne Noire to work on the water supply. This supply system successfully fed the canal with water where it crossed the continental divide, replacing water that drained toward the two seas. The system was a masterpiece of both hydraulic and structural engineering, and served as an early ratification of Riquet's vision. It was also a major part of the massive undertaking.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Work began on the first "enterprise" on 1 January 1667 with the construction of the trough of the Rigole de la plaine then continued on 15 April 1667 with the laying of the first stone of the Lac de Saint-Ferréol. Originally Riquet wanted to build a dozen reservoirs but the Commissioner General of fortifications, Louis Nicolas de Clerville, asked him to replace them with a single reservoir. This was a great novelty at the time – no reservoir-lake of this magnitude had ever been built before.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Some of Clerville's men with experience in military engineering came, to build the huge dam for the single reservoir, the Bassin de St. Ferréol, on the river Laudot. The Laudot is a tributary of the Tarn in the Montagne Noire some from the summit of the proposed canal at Seuil de Naurouze. This massive dam, long, above the riverbed and thick at its base was the largest work of civil engineering in Europe and only the second major dam to be built in Europe, after one in Alicante in Spain. It was connected to the Canal du Midi by a contoured channel over long, wide with a base width of . It was eventually equipped with 14 locks in order to bring building materials for the canal down from the mountains and to create a new port for the mountain town of Revel.


title: Canal du Midi

text: In November 1667 an official ceremony laid the foundation stone of the Garonne lock in Toulouse in the presence of representatives of the Parliament of Toulouse, the "Capitouls" (sheriffs), and the Archbishop of Toulouse, Charles-François d'Anglure de Bourlemont. A first filling of water was made between the seuil de Naurouze and Toulouse during the winter of 1671–1672 and the first boat traffic could begin. In 1673 the section from Naurouze to Trèbes was completed marking the end of the first "enterprise".


title: Canal du Midi

text: From 1671 the second enterprise began linking Trèbes to the Mediterranean Sea and to build the port of Sète (then called "Cette", the location was chosen and the port constructed by Clerville). This part of the canal posed problems at the junction between the étang de Thau and Trèbes because the canal must cross the course of the Hérault and the Libron. To work around the problem, Riquet set up a system of valves and chambers for Libron and a round lock with three doors for the étang de Thau and the Hérault. The round lock at Agde could switch between a reach of the Canal du Midi and the Hérault. This part of the canal was also a problem at the level of the seuil of Ensérune and the descent to Beziers in the valley of the Orb. Riquet solved these problems on the one hand by digging the Malpas Tunnel and secondly by building at Fonserannes a row of eight lock chambers to the Orb. The Malpas Tunnel was the first canal passage ever built through a tunnel. The Canal du Midi passes through a tunnel through a hill at the Oppidum d'Ensérune.


title: Canal du Midi

text: In 1681 work on the canal ended at Béziers. However, in October 1680, Riquet died during construction. He did not see the end of the project. It was the king's engineer, "La Feuille", who took over.


title: Canal du Midi

text: His sons inherited the canal, but the family's investments were not recovered and debts not fully paid until over 100 years later. The canal was well managed and run as a paternalistic enterprise until the revolution.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The canal was built on a grand scale, with oval shaped locks long, wide at the gates and wide in the middle. This design was intended to resist the collapse of the walls that happened early in the project. The oval locks used the strength of the arch against the inward pressure of the surrounding soil that had destabilized the early locks with straight walls. Such arches had been used by the Romans for retaining walls in Gaul, so this technique was not new, but its application to locks was revolutionary and was imitated in early American canals.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Many of the structures were designed with neoclassical elements to further echo the king's ambitions to make France a New Rome. The Canal du Midi as a grand piece of infrastructural engineering in itself was promoted as worthy of Rome and the political dreams behind it were clarified with plaques in Latin, and walls built with Roman features.


title: Canal du Midi

text: In May 1681 the channel was thoroughly inspected by order of the king to check the work and the water-tightness of the canal. It was then officially opened to navigation on 15 May 1681. At the inauguration of the canal at Toulouse on 15 May, the King's steward and the president of the Estates of Languedoc travelled first on the canal followed by many other boats carrying particularly wheat. After the maiden voyage, the canal was drained as the work was not complete; it would not be reopened until December 1682. The canal was opened to traffic in May 1683 and stopped receiving public works in March 1685.


title: Canal du Midi

text: For fifteen years nearly 12,000 workers worked on the construction of the canal. Riquet hired men and women between 20 and 50 years old whom he organized in sections forming workshops led by a controller-general. This rationalization of work permitted the optimisation of tasks and allowed several projects to be performed at the same time. All of the work was manual and the digging of the canal was with shovels and pickaxes. The workforce was made up of farmers and local workers whose number varied from one period to another during the year. Pierre-Paul Riquet appealed to the military to compensate for this fluctuation. He also set up monthly payments of workers for their loyalty. He also offered accommodation for two deniers per day.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The women labourers were surprisingly important to the canal's engineering. Many came from former Roman bath colonies in the Pyrenees, where elements of classical hydraulics had been maintained as a living tradition. They were employed at first to move earth to the dam at Saint Ferréol, but their supervisors, who were struggling to design the channels from the dam to the canal, recognized their expertise. Engineering in this period was mainly focused on fortress construction, and hydraulics was concerned mostly with mining and problems of drainage. Building a navigational canal across the continent was well beyond the formal knowledge of the military engineers expected to supervise it, but the peasant women who were carriers of classical hydraulic methods added to the repertoire of available techniques. They not only perfected the water supply system for the canal but also threaded the waterway through the mountains near Béziers, using few locks, and built the eight-lock staircase at Fonserannes.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The financial and social conditions of employment of the workers were very favourable and unusual for the time. To retain his workforce, Riquet paid his workers well enough. More importantly, he gave benefits never before seen such as non-working rain days, Sundays and public holidays, and finally paid sick leave. The employment contract was individual and done by free recruitment. Pay was, at the beginning, 20 sols (1 livre) per day, double the agricultural wage. Discontent from farm owners, however, forced Riquet to reduce pay to 15, then 12 sols per day. In 1668 he established the monthly payment of 10 livres.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Many trades were found on the work sites of the canal in addition to the seasonal workers who were most often farmers. The masons and stonecutters were responsible for the construction of structures such as bridges, locks, and spillways. The blacksmiths and levellers were responsible for the maintenance of the tools and equipment. Carters and carriers, the Farriers and owners of sawmills were also requisitioned for the works.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Workers were organized into sections controlled by captains and sergeants. Finally, Pierre-Paul Riquet was surrounded by aides as well as auditor-generals and inspector-generals of the canal.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The workers' tools were very limited: picks, hoes and shovels to dig, baskets and stretchers to transport materials. They were provided to workers who must maintain them themselves. Gunpowder was used to blast the rocks.


title: Canal du Midi

text: In 1681 the first inspection took place "dry". The king appointed a commission composed of Henri d'Aguessau, steward of Languedoc, Mr de la Feuille, Father Mourgues a Jesuit professor of rhetoric and mathematics at the University of Toulouse, two sons and two in-laws of Pierre-Paul Riquet, as well as Messrs. Andréossy, Gilade, and Contigny. This commission embarked for Beziers on 2 May 1681 and went up the canal back to Toulouse over six days. The filling with water had been done showing a measure of the progress of checks to Castelnaudary (the section Toulouse-Castelnaudary had water since 1672).


title: Canal du Midi

text: The inauguration itself took place just after the first inspection. The same people re-embarked at Toulouse on 15 May 1681 on a flagship boat followed by dozens of other boats. The Cardinal de Bonzi, Archbishop of Narbonne and President-born of the Estates of Languedoc joined the procession which arrived at Castelnaudary on 17 May. A great religious ceremony took place on 18 May at the Church of Saint-Roch followed by a procession to the canal to bless the work, the convoy, and the people present.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The convoy resumed its progress on 20 May with stops in the evening at Villepinte, on the 21st at Penautier, the 22nd at Puicheric, and the 23rd at Roubia. On 24 May it was the passage through the Malpas Tunnel then crossing the locks of Fonsérannes. The cardinal and the bishops went down to Beziers on the same day.


title: Canal du Midi

text: In 1686, Vauban was made responsible for inspecting the channel which he quickly found was in a dilapidated state. He then ordered Antoine Niquet, the engineer of fortifications for Languedoc, to carry out new work at the Montagne Noire level to drill the Cammazes Tunnel to extend the Rigole de la montagne and strengthen the Bassin de Saint-Ferréol. In his haste, Riquet had underestimated the number of rivers that in case of a flood would silt up and swell the canal. The barrage of Saint-Ferréol was too small and its supply system was inefficient.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Vauban also built many masonry structures to isolate the many rivers that flow into the canal and spillways to regulate the water level. He built 49 culverts and aqueducts, including the Cesse aqueduct, the Orbiel aqueduct and the Pechlaurier culvert. Finally, he reinforced a lot of works and dams originally built by Riquet. This series of works, which lasted until 1694, greatly improved the supply and management of water. Antoine Niquet was responsible for monitoring the canal until 1726.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The Canal du Midi still had shortcomings because it did not pass through Carcassonne nor Narbonne and did not join the Rhône. In addition, to reach Bordeaux, it was necessary to take the Garonne which has variable flow rates and violent floods. The "Canal de Jonction" or 'junction canal', built in 1776, gave access to Narbonne via the Canal de la Robine de Narbonne. The same year the Canal de Brienne allowed the bypass of Bazacle - the ford on the Garonne in Toulouse which blocked the river. The connection between the étang de Thau and the Rhone was also completed in 1808. In 1810 a diversion canal allowed Carcassonne to be connected. Finally, in 1857 the Canal latéral à la Garonne was opened between Toulouse and Castets-en-Dorthe, completing the link between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea that Riquet had dreamt of.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Channel management was ensured primarily by the descendants of Riquet. This was through the elder son Jean-Mathias who took control of the fief until 1714, then Victor-Pierre-François until 1760, then Victor-Maurice, and finally Jean-Gabriel. The Riquet family quickly put up a pyramidal organisation structure with a "Director-General of the Canal" who governs a board of directors responsible for specific geographic areas of the channel. Seven zones were defined in the west and the east: Toulouse, Naurouze, Castelnaudary, Trèbes Le Somail, Beziers, and Agde. Each Director is responsible for maintenance of his zone and is supported by a receiver and a controller. Hundreds of lock-keepers are responsible for the locks. This organization facilitates the control and hiring of employees.


title: Canal du Midi

text: In Toulouse, a group of three people form a steering committee: the director general of works, the Receiver General who sets the fees, and the Comptroller General in charge of accounting. Canal management ensures the supply of money to pay for various works and staff hired for the canal. In the 1770s a tax report showed an income of 640,000 livres, half of which went to maintenance and salaries, and half the profits and funds were exceptional works. In 1785 this benefit increased to 950,000 livres which was a very large sum for the time.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The maintenance of the canal was a real problem for the descendants of Riquet. Despite many precautions, the canal silts up with silt from the water supply. In addition, it fills with the branches and leaves of trees. Every winter, a period of closure allows the cleaning of the canal. It is necessary to re-dig the canal bed every year for two months. These works are expensive and two months is not always sufficient. Another problem is the invasion of the canal by weeds in the levels and spillways. There is no way to eradicate this scourge. In 1820 dredging was set up to pull up the weeds and the mud layer.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Finally, rain, frost, and drought forces managers to keep an eye all along the canal to repair leaks and cracks that might open. Today, the channel is subject to the same constraints and managers must perform the same work. They are now mechanized. Approximately 350 employees are made available to the Waterways of France manager by the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy to maintain the canal.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Once used to transport goods and people, the Canal du Midi is now mainly used by boaters and other tourists.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Initially, the canal appears to have been mainly used by small sailing barges with easily lowered masts, bow-hauled by gangs of men. By the middle of the 18th century, horse towing had largely taken over and steam tugs came in 1834 to cross the Étang. By 1838 273 vessels were regularly working the canal and passenger and packet boats for mail continued a brisk trade until the coming of the railways in 1857.


title: Canal du Midi

text: A "malle-poste" postal service was set up on boats along the canal. As for the Stagecoach for the mail, the boats were pulled by horses on towpaths. This type of transport was considered revolutionary thanks to its regularity, comfort, safety, and speed that were an improvement over the road. In addition, the canal could be travelled throughout the year. The journey takes four days from Toulouse to Sète.


title: Canal du Midi

text: This time was reduced to 32 hours in 1855 which corresponds to a speed of thanks to the replacement of horses every pulling boats. In addition rather than cross multiple locks travellers were transferred from one vessel to another which saved time and saved water used for the opening of the locks. Finally, the journeys also took place at night to save even more time. In 1684, travel from Toulouse to Agde cost one livre and a half. The rate was set per league with the rates displayed on a sign. Thus, a bourgeois paid three sols per league while a valet or a sailor paid one and a half sols per league. Payment offices were located along the route. Each office indicated the rate and provided the distances between each office.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The Canal relied on wheat and wine traffic in Languedoc which was its main purpose. This commercial traffic had the effect of enriching the descendants of Riquet very quickly. The wheat, wine, and alcohol could be exported from Lauragais to Toulouse, Bordeaux, and Marseille. The canal had the effect of broadening the sales area of the producers of Languedoc. In the 1730s commerce thrived and greatly improved agricultural businesses. The canal also allowed the import to Languedoc of products from other regions such as Marseille soap, rice, starch, dried fish, and spices and dyes. However, it was never the grand international route envisaged by the kings of France as its traffic was limited to local and national trade.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Freight rates depend on the cargo. Thus in the 17th century, the transportation of wheat cost 12 deniers per quintal and that of oats 6 deniers per quintal.


title: Canal du Midi

text: At its opening the canal was used by a majority of boats for the transport of goods. These vessels were twenty metres long and were hauled by horses or men. The tonnage of vessels increased over the centuries, from 60 tonnes at the beginning to 120 tonnes at the start of the 19th century. The proper Canal Barges were called "owned barge" or "canal barge" and also plied the route. In 1778 there were about 250 barges. In 1914, there were 126 "owned boats", 70 rented boats, 300 horses, and 75 mules. In the year 1930 motor barges had completely replaced animal traction. They relaunched in part the merchant traffic on the canal but commercial and merchant inland water shipping finally disappeared around the late 1980s. The year 1856 was a record year for merchant activity with more than 110 million tonnes-kilometres of cargo and nearly 100,000 passengers carried.


title: Canal du Midi

text: For 250 years, horses have pulled many boats such as fast barges or long commercial boats. A horse can tow up to 120 times its weight when the load is on the water. Animal traction was then a strategic element in the operation of a canal.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The mail-barges or "post vehicles" which transported passengers were boats many metres long with a simple shelter on the deck. These boats evolved to become faster and more luxurious with lounges and were very large since the largest could reach long. Services inside these vessels also evolved with first class in private salons and second class in a common room. During the heyday of the canal some boats included first class lounges where dinner was served.


title: Canal du Midi

text: In the 1820s the Hungarian reformer István Széchenyi visited France and was greatly impressed with the Canal du Midi in France. It inspired him to envision ways to improve navigation on the lower Danube and Tisza, which he implemented later in his career .


title: Canal du Midi

text: Curiously, the canal did not really serve its purpose. The economic and political context hindered the economic development that had been expected. After two hundred years of operation, the canal began to suffer from competition from rail and road. It reached its peak in the middle of the 19th century. In 1858 Napoleon III signed a decree entrusting the canal for a period of 40 years to the Chemins de fer du Midi railway company, the owner of the Bordeaux-Narbonne railway line. This act had the effect of amplifying the decline in boat traffic on the canal. The company primarily promoted the railway and placed higher freight rates on commercial traffic in the canal. The Canal du Midi had the highest rates of any of France's waterway. In addition, the railway became smoother and faster than the waterway especially as the Canal du Midi suffered from its limited tonnage.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The period before 1859 corresponded to the canal operating without competition while from 1859 the installation of railways in the south of France began. The effect of rail competition is clearly visible in the table with the halving of freight traffic between 1856 and 1879. The traffic then continued to decline gradually. As for the railway, the Bordeaux–Sète railway carried almost 200 million tonne-kilometres in 1860. Management of the canal was taken over by the State in 1898 who made successive investments to maintain its competitiveness. The state removed taxes and tolls which had the effect of reviving traffic on the canal to which reached 80 million tonne-kilometres in 1909.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The government tried to revive the renovation of the canal by enacting a legal program to lift the channel to the standards of the Freycinet gauge. The canals of northern France were already at this level and had traffic well above the Canal du Midi. However, the law remained unimplemented due to lack of funds.


title: Canal du Midi

text: At the end of the First World War traffic was completely disorganized. In 1920 freight traffic recovered rapidly with the arrival of motorised barges. The HPLM company (Le Havre-Paris-Lyon-Marseille) operated 30 boats on the Canal du Midi. The Second World War saw a slowdown in traffic due to the shortage of oil but recovery was rapid after the conflict and the traffic reached 110 million km. However, the canal suffered from a size too small for later barges with high tonnage. Rail became more and more competitive and road transport also became a second competitor. The Canal du Midi became the third means of transport. Freight traffic ceased in the 1970s. In 1980 there were only two barges (the "Bacchus", a wine carrier and the "Espérance", a grain carrier) carrying regular traffic between Toulouse and Sète: they definitively ceased their activities in 1989 following the cessation of navigation pronounced by the Prefect of the Region due to drought. In 1991 operation of the canal was assigned to the administration of "Voies navigables de France" who remain managers today.


title: Canal du Midi

text: From the end of the 20th century, the canal has offered many activities. It can again play its original role in allowing the transit of boats between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.


title: Canal du Midi

text: It attracts more and more river tourism, including sailing on chartered boats, restaurant-boats, or hotel barges such as the Anjodi. Tourism has grown from the 1960s, most significantly from Britain, and then exploded in the 1980s. The canal was featured prominently in the BBC television series "Rick Stein's French Odyssey" (2005), further publicising the canal to a British audience. Busier than the Seine, the canal alone accounts for one-fifth of French river tourism and 80% of passengers are foreigners, primarily Germans, Swiss and British. There are approximately 10,000 boat passages per year through the Fonséranes locks, with the most traffic at the Argens lock with 11,000 boats carrying an average of five passengers. The canal directly employs about 1,900 people, and the annual economic impact due to the activity of the canal is about 122 million euros.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Navigation of the channel is open from the third Saturday in March to the first week of November. Outside of this period, navigation can be authorized for individuals who have requested it. The winter period is called the "period of unemployment" and allows the completion of all maintenance work.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The Canal du Midi also allows other sports, mainly in urban areas, such as rowing, canoeing, fishing, cycling, roller-skating, and hiking along the banks. A paved stretch of from Toulouse to Avignonet-Lauragais and another of between Béziers and Portiragnes are particularly suited to cycling and rollerblading. It is possible to cycle the entire Canal des Deux Mers from Sète to Bordeaux. In addition, many barges have been converted to family housing, theatres, exhibition spaces, and restaurants.


title: Canal du Midi

text: During the dry season, the canal serves as a reservoir for agriculture. Nearly 700 irrigation pumps are installed along the canal. This is one of the fundamental roles of the canal and one of the reasons for its maintenance by the State since the end of commercial traffic. The canal can irrigate up to of agricultural land.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The Rigole de la plaine carries water from the Sor tapped from an offtake at Pont Crouzet for irrigation before emptying into the Canal du Midi. In addition, individual samples are collected from the water on the area between Revel and the seuil de Naurouze. In 1980 the Lac de la Ganguise was built near Castelnaudary providing a water reserve of 22 million cubic metres. In 2005 the dam was raised to reach a capacity of 44 million cubic metres. Near the old basin of Naurouze the Naurouze pumping station helps to regulate the water in the Canal du Midi and the lake. An underground pipe, the gallery of Mandore, provides the Naurouze with additional water from the Rigole de la plaine to Lake Ganguise. Conversely, during the dry season, Lake Ganguise can supply the Canal du Midi if the water supply of the Rigole de la plaine is not enough.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The canal has also provided a supply of drinking water through the water treatment plants at Picotalen (Picotalen I and Picotalen II) since 1973. They are part of the installations installed by the Institution for Interdepartmental Hydraulic Planning of Montagne Noire (IIAHMN) since its inception in 1948 to meet the water needs of Lauragais. The plant supplies water from the Cammazes channel to nearly 185 communes.


title: Canal du Midi

text: While the canal was once seen as a tool of production, trade, and commerce it is now considered to be architectural and technical heritage as evidenced by the refusal of the mayor of Toulouse, Pierre Baudis, to allow space on the Canal du Midi to be used for an urban expressway. It has not been downgraded and remains open for navigation. On 7 December 1996 the channel and a buffer zone of 2,000 km were included in the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. In the same year, it was classified under French law as a "Grand Site of France". This classification was extended to the canals of the plain and the mountain in 1996 and 2001. It caused a very rapid increase in tourist numbers.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Nevertheless, maintenance has not been carried out completely because many players are involved: three regions, six departments, and local collective authorities. None wish to bear the cost of restoration and do not always dare to launch development programs. "Platanus" (plane trees) is a particular source of problems because their roots destroy the banks and the paved cycle paths and their leaves invade the canal. In addition they are weakened by disease (canker of "Platanus"). The canal is a heavy heritage to maintain and enhance as the manager of French canals, Voies navigables de France (VNF), specializes in the management and maintenance of French canals in a market and commercial economy and not in the tourism market where the Canal du Midi is located. In addition maintenance costs are higher than in a traditional network because of the age of the canal. Also, the operation of the channel generates low levels of earnings. VNF must try to establish local partnerships to develop and maintain the canal since its budget does not allow it to provide the care and supervision of of canals.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The classification as a World Heritage Site creates an additional level of oversight by the State who must ensure that any changes along the canal and its structures are compatible with the strategic issues of UNESCO. However, a report of the General Inspectorate of Architecture and Heritage in 2003 showed that the channel was in very poor condition with many works and infrastructure devaluing its surroundings and suffering from significant housing pressure evidenced by uncontrolled construction, poorly designed facilities that misrepresent the site, and the construction of marinas in the ports on the canal. Nevertheless, to respect the uniformity of the canal development and support efforts for improvement, the Canal du Midi remains under the management of VNF under the tutelage of the State who want to create a monitoring mission like the Loire and Mont-Saint-Michel.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The Canal du Midi is long with a total of 328 structures including 63 locks, 126 bridges, 55 aqueducts, 7 aqueducts, 6 dams, 1 spillway, and 1 tunnel.


title: Canal du Midi

text: It takes 90 million cubic metres of water to feed the canal for one year. To do this, Riquet set up a complex system of water supply to the canal. The idea was to capture the waters of the Montagne Noire located several tens of kilometres away and bring it to the Seuil de Naurouze, the highest point of the future canal, through channels.


title: Canal du Midi

text: These channels, called "Rigole de la montagne" (Channel of the Mountain) and "Rigole de la plaine" (Channel of the Plain) connected the upper three reservoirs (Lampy, Cammazes, and Saint-Ferréol) at the seuil de Naurouze. The Rigole de la Montagne measured long and has 22 structures between the outlet at Alzeau and the falls of Cammazes. The Rigole de la Plaine measured long at altitude and included 68 structures between the Crouzet bridge and the seuil de Naurouze.


title: Canal du Midi

text: Initially, two reservoirs fed the highest point of the canal at the seuil de Naurouze: the Bassin de Saint-Ferréol had a capacity of 6.3 million cubic metres and was built between 1667 and 1672. The other reservoir was much smaller - the Bassin de Lampy. Called "Lampy-Vieux", it was quickly replaced by the "Lampy-Neuf" with a capacity of 1,672,000 cubic metres built over a hundred years later between 1777 and 1782.


title: Canal du Midi

text: The Bassin de Saint-Ferréol was and remains the main water reservoir for the canal with a surface of . It receives the waters of the Montagne Noire via the Channel of the Mountain which is itself supplied by the basin of Lampy. The lake waters are retained by a dam long and wide consisting of three parallel walls. The channel surrounds the basin and can evacuate any excess water. A museum is located near the outlets and has displays on the history of the construction of the Lake.