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1.Which Italian city is also known as the City of Canals?
Florence
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Venice
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Milan
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It has 177 canals crossed by 400 bridges.
2.Which is the longest canal in the world?
Europa Canal, Germany
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Rideau Canal, Canada
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Grand Canal, China
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It runs 1,776 km (1,104 mi) from Beijing to Hangzhou. The oldest parts back to the 5th century BC.
3.What is used for lowering and raising boats between different levels of a canal?
A key
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A lock
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A bolt
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A lock consists of two gates and functions like an airlock but with a change of water level instead of air pressure. (If you don't know how an airlock works, it's like a lock but with a change of air pressure instead of water level.)
4.Which canal helped New York City beat Philadelphia as the USA's busiest port?
Erie Canal
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Salt Lake Canal
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Superior Canal
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The Erie Canal allowed New York City to trade with the interior of the country and helped its rise in prominence.
5.Which canal first enabled boat travel from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean?
Canal of the Pharaohs, Ancient Egypt
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Great Arabian Canal, Middle Ages
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Suez Canal, 19th century
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The Canal of the Pharaohs linked the Gulf of Suez to the Nile. It was blocked up in 767 by the Abbasid Caliphate.
6.Which European capital features canals built in concentric semicircles?
Paris
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Berlin
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Amsterdam
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The main canals - Herengracht, Prinsengracht, Keizersgracht - were dug in the 1600s during the Dutch Golden Age.
7.Pacific to Atlantic travel on the Panama canal is in which general direction?
Northwest
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Northeast
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Southeast
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It requires ships travelling longitudinally to turn back on themselves.
8.Which vessels are built for Britain's limited width canal systems?
Thinboats
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Slimboats
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Narrowboats
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These days used for pleasure more than industry, about 6000 narrowboats are registered as permanent homes.
9.And what were they originally powered by?
Horse
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Steam
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Wind
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A horse towing a boat from a towpath could pull 50 times as much cargo as it could pull in a wagon on the road.
10.What was the name of the container ship that blocked the Suez canal in 2021?
Ever Given
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Diamond Princess
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Boaty McBoatface
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Cruise ship Diamond Princess was quarantined for a month in 2020 after an outbreak of Covid-19.
11.Which of these is a French canal and UNESCO World Heritage Site?
Canal Plus
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Canal du Midi
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Canal Anglais
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It is considered one of the greatest construction works of the 17th century. Canal+ is a French TV channel.
12.By how much did the Panama canal shorten a New York to Seattle voyage?
2,800 miles (4,500 km) shorter
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7,800 miles (12,550 km) shorter
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12,800 miles (20,600 km) shorter
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Initiated by France and finished by the United States, the Panama canal has recently been widened to allow passage of the New Panamax class of ships which are 51.25 m (168.1 ft) wide.
13.Which British city contains the longest network of canals?
London
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Birmingham
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Edinburgh
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A centre of the industrial revolution, at 35 miles / 56 km the network is longer than that of Venice
14.How many fixed road bridges cross the Suez canal?
One
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Five
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Ten
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The Al Salam Bridge is at El-Qantara.
15.Which major canal is being planned in Turkey to bypass the Bosporus?
The Ankara Canal
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The Izmir Canal
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The Istanbul Canal
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The project is unpopular with a huge majority of Istanbul's residents, but President Erdoğan has assured that “We will build the canal, whether you like it or not."
I cut it from the explanation as it was getting too long, but the fact is regularly misquoted as Birmingham having "more canals" than Venice. Venice has more individual canals, but Birmingham's canal system has a greater overall length.
There's three (five when counting both canal lanes) movable pontoon bridges over the Suez Canal that are also used for vehicular traffic, see e.g. here: https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/163111/what-is-this-bridge-over-the-suez-canal . Perhaps add a note that you exclude these. Great quiz!
I cut it from the explanation as it was getting too long, but the fact is regularly misquoted as Birmingham having "more canals" than Venice. Venice has more individual canals, but Birmingham's canal system has a greater overall length.