Grachten

Gracht (Dutch pronunciation: [ɣrɑxt]) (plural: grachten) is a Dutch word frequently encountered by non-Dutch people when confronted with several things related to the Netherlands, such as Dutch art (e.g. 17th-century town-views of grachten), Dutch history (Anne Frank House on the Prinsengracht) or tourism (boating tours on the grachten of Amsterdam). The word cannot be easily translated; for this reason, it is necessary to distinguish between four related terms:

Although the word gracht means "canal" or "waterway" in the general sense, there is no exact equivalent for the term in English, therefore it is best left untranslated.

Grachten were the life-lines of Dutch and Flemish cities. They were used for many purposes: for transportation, for draining, as water supply and as sewers, all at the same time. In heavily populated cities, these combined functions repeatedly proved to be detrimental to the public health.

Most Hanseatic cities have grachten to transport, to load and to land goods in and from ships. Sometimes grachten were made from older rivers, like in Groningen. There the older river called Drentse Aa was used as a natural part of the grachten (shown on the image).

In Delft, the main gracht – the Oude Delft – started as a drainage canal for reclaiming land in marshy surroundings.

When it was still a Dutch colony, Cape Town had a network of grachten, that were fed by the springs at the base of Table Mountain. These provided water and sanitation for the infant town. In the ensuing centuries, the grachten were covered over, but many of the prominent streets in the modern city centre still bear their names (Heerengracht, Keizersgracht, Buitengracht, Buitensingel, etc.). There is currently a project to restore some of these historic waterways.

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