Languedoc Canal

(also Canal du Midi), a navigation canal in southern France that connects the port of Bordeaux on the Atlantic with the port of Sète on the Mediterranean. The canal begins at the Garonne River near Toulouse, passes through the Col de Naurouze, which separates spurs of the Massif Central and the Pyrenees, then travels down the Aire and Fresquel river valleys to Carcassonne and Béziers and on to Sète. The canal was built from 1666 to 1681. It is 241 km long and has 65 locks. Approximately 50,000 tons of cargo pass through the canal each year.