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The Volga–Baltic Waterway, formerly known as the Mariinsk Canal System (Russian: Мариинская водная система), is a series of canals and rivers in Russia which link the Volga River with the Baltic Sea. Its overall length between Cherepovets and Lake Onega is . Originally constructed in the early 19th century, the system was rebuilt for larger vessels in the 1960s, becoming a part of the United Deep Inland Waterway System of European Russia. The original name "Mariinsky" is the credit to Empress Maria Feodorovna, the second wife of Emperor Paul I of Russia.〔(СУДОХОДСТВО НА БЕЛОМ ОЗЕРЕ ДО И ПОСЛЕ ПРОРЫТИЯ БЕЛОЗЕРСКОГО ОБВОДНОГО КАНАЛА )〕 == History == After Peter the Great wrested the Gulf of Finland from Sweden, it was necessary to provide a secure means of river transport with the Russian hinterland. The earliest Vyshny Volochyok canal system, completed by 1709, was intended to provide for this. It was followed by the ambitious project of the Ladoga Canals. Under Alexander I of Russia, the traditional waterway through Vychny Volochyok was complemented by the Tikhvin canal system (1811) and the Mariinsk canal system (1810), the latter becoming by far the most popular of the three. The Mariinsk canal system was an outstanding monument of early 19th-century hydrotechnics, which proved to be of vital importance to the national economy. The system started in Rybinsk and passed through the Sheksna River, Lake Beloye (and Belozersky bypass canal), Kovzha River, the artificial Novomariinsky Canal, the Vytegra River to Lake Onega. Thereupon vessels sailed through the Onega Canal, the Svir River, the Ladoga Canal, and the Neva River to the Gulf of Finland. In 1829, the Northern Dvina Canal was opened; it connects the Sheksna River (one of the Volga's tributaries) through the Kubenskoye Lake with the Northern Dvina, flowing into the White Sea. In the following decades, the system was further expanded: three more canals, Belozersky, Onezhsky, and Novoladozhsky, enabling smaller craft to bypass dangerous waters of the three big lakes (Beloye, Onega, and Ladoga), were inaugurated towards the end of the century. Another connection was added in the 1930s, when the infamous White Sea – Baltic Canal was constructed by gulag prisoners at enormous human cost between Lake Onega and the White Sea. In recent years, the Volga–Baltic Waterway has gained additional importance as a tourist route for boats sailing along the Silver Ring of Russia. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Volga–Baltic Waterway」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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