Abstract
The French monarchy of the second half of the 17th century was looking for a way to dynamize the domestic economy within the framework of mercantilism. One of the ways was to use new commercial communications that would facilitate and speed up the movement of heavy or more numerous goods. In the 1660s, at the suggestion of Pierre-Paul Riquet (1609-1680), the government decided to use the rich hydrographic network in the south of France to build an artificial canal leading from the Mediterranean Sea to the Garonne River, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
Preparations began immediately under the baton of the new navigation policy: the first engineering plans of the future construction were created, the expert group of "waters and forests" mapped the rivers whose flows were to be adjusted, navigable rivers were drawn and costs were calculated. The canal had been built in fifteen years and in its time symbolized the pinnacle of engineering construction art, which France used for economic, strategic and supply purposes. The aim of the contribution will be to show the preparatory work and the construction of the canal itself, which predetermined the use of engineering know-how for practical purposes in the country.