The Teltow Canal, also known as the Teltowkanal in German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, is a canal

Canal

Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...

 to the south of Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, the capital city of Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. The canal lies in both the states of Berlin and Brandenburg

Brandenburg

Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...

, and at points forms the boundary between the two. It takes its name from the Brandeburg town of Teltow

Teltow

Teltow is a town in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany.-Geography:Teltow is part of the agglomeration of Berlin. The distance to the Berlin city centre is , while the distance to Potsdam is ....

 that lies on its course.

The canal is 37.83 kilometres (23.5 mi) in length and links the River Havel

Havel

The Havel is a river in north-eastern Germany, flowing through the German states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt. It is a right tributary of the Elbe river and in length...

 near the city of Potsdam

Potsdam

Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....

 with the River Dahme

Dahme

Dahme may refer to:*Dahme, Brandenburg, a town in Brandenburg, Germany*Dahme, Schleswig-Holstein, a municipality in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany*Dahme , a river in Brandenburg, Germany*Dahme-Spreewald, a district of Brandenburg, Germany...

 near Köpenick

Köpenick

Köpenick is a historic town and locality that is situated at the confluence of the rivers Dahme and Spree in the south-east of the German capital city of Berlin. It was formerly known as Copanic and then Cöpenick, only officially adopting the current spelling in 1931...

 in Berlin's eastern suburbs. The Dahme provides a link to the Oder-Spree Canal, and hence to the River Oder

Oder

The Oder is a river in Central Europe. It rises in the Czech Republic and flows through western Poland, later forming of the border between Poland and Germany, part of the Oder-Neisse line...

 and Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. Whilst the Dahme is a tributary of the River Spree

Spree

The Spree is a river that flows through the Saxony, Brandenburg and Berlin states of Germany, and in the Ústí nad Labem region of the Czech Republic...

, itself a navigable tributary of the Havel, the Teltow Canal offers the advantage of bypassing the centre of Berlin, with its heavy river traffic.

At its western end, the Teltow Canal incorporates the Griebnitzsee

Griebnitzsee

Griebnitzsee is a lake in the western outskirts of Berlin, the capital city of Germany. At an elevation of 29.4 m, its surface area is ca. 0.592 km². The lake forms the border between the German states of Berlin and Brandenburg...

 lake which links to the Havel in Potsdam. The Griebnitz Canal

Griebnitz Canal

The Griebnitz Canal, also known in German as the Griebnitzkanal or the Prinz-Friedrich-Leopold-Kanal, is a canal in the western suburbs of Berlin, the capital city of Germany...

 provides a second link to the Havel from the eastern end of the Griebnitzsee. Towards its eastern end, the Teltow Canal is linked to the Landwehr Canal by the Neukölln Ship Canal

Neukölln Ship Canal

The Neukölln Ship Canal, or Neuköllner Schiffahrtskanal, is a long canal in Berlin, Germany. It connects with the Landwehr Canal at its northern end, and with the Teltow Canal and the Britz Canal at its southern end....

, while the Britz Canal

Britz Canal

The Britz Canal, or Britzer Verbindungskanal in German, is a long canal in Berlin, Germany. The canal was built between 1900 and 1906, and was previously known as the Britz Branch Canal or Britzer Zweigkanal....

 connects the Teltow Canal with the Spree.

There is only one lock

Lock (water transport)

A lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is...

 on the canal, at Kleinmachnow

Kleinmachnow

Kleinmachnow is a municipality in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany.-Geography:It is situated southwest of the centre of Berlin, immediately neighbouring the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, and east of Potsdam...

. The canal is navigable by boats with a draught

Draft (hull)

The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...

of up to 1.75 metres (5.7 ft) and with a maximum bridge clearance of 4.4 metres (14.4 ft)

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