Civilization was born through canals. Among them, canals of expansion, politics, trade, and science. When looking at the map of Europe, my eyes landed on Ljubljana. The city in Slovenia has a legend of a dragon that was conquered by a Greek hero named Jason.
Then, after stealing the golden fleece from the King of the Black Sea, Jason then fled on the Argo ship to the mouth of the Danube River (not to the Aegean Sea) until he reached the Ljubljanica River. There he found a large lake inhabited by a swamp monster in the form of a dragon. After struggling, Jason defeated the dragon and became the first citizen of Ljubljanica.
Over time, the defeated dragon became a symbol of Ljubljanica or Ljubljana, from the city guard to a symbol of courage. The symbol is now seen on buildings, flags, bridges, to festivals and mascots. The dragon symbol has actually been present in Ljubljana since ancient times. Dragons were originally present in medieval heraldry as decoration, but then shifted to a central position from being a monster to being a symbolic protector of the city, embodying strength, courage, and wisdom.
The story of Jason's escape was via a river. We could call it a canal. The canal brought him to a place that would later become a city. What Jason did in the story was just follow where the flow took him, then adapt to survive, and create something. The origin of a city is generally from that: the mobility of people who then settled, interacted, and created social institutions.
Human civilization also spread through the canal or the Danube lake. If drawn from Constanta on the Black Sea, Jason's journey could actually have reached Amsterdam via Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Hungary, Austria, to the Netherlands and out to the North Sea. We could call it: an adventure from the Black Sea to the North Sea.
The Suez Canal or Canal is also 163 km in Egypt and connects Port Said (Būr Sa'īd) on the Mediterranean Sea with Suez (al-Suways) on the Red Sea. Since its inauguration in 1869, this canal has enabled water transportation from Europe to Asia without going around Africa. Before this canal, some transportation was done by emptying ships and carrying their goods overland between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.
Regarding Suez, Israel is also rumored to be building its own 'canal' from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the case of a ship stuck in the Suez Canal which caused a traffic jam for about a week, Haaretz (1/4/2021) wrote "Can Israel's Eilat Become an Alternative to Suez Canal?" The idea of an Israeli 'canal' has long been discussed, drawn from the Eilat area.
The canal is not like Suez, but a train. Israel's logic: Ships that want to send goods via Suez can turn into the Gulf of Eilat, unload their cargo onto nearby trains to be sent to the ports of Ashdod or Haifa, and then reload them onto ships to Europe. For relations with Jordan, Israel is also rumored to be building a canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea. Economic considerations are very important in this context.
Between the Saronic Gulf and the Gulf of Corinth there is also a canal that divides them. Traffic is connected. In Panama there is also an 82 km canal that cuts through North America and South America and connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. This canal cuts the travel time of ships because they do not need to go around the southern tip of South America.
Thailand also has a canal called Khlong which is also known as the "Venice of the East." This canal originates from the Chao Phraya River, Tha Chin, Mae Klong River, and their tributaries, especially in the lowlands of central Thailand. In fact, as of 2019, the country had 1,682 canals in Bangkok, with a total length of 2,604 kilometers.
The Thai government also has ambitions to create a new canal in a narrow land gap called Genting Kra near the border with Malaysia. Genting Kra is a land area flanked by the South China Sea and the Andaman Sea.
The idea of creating this canal is said to have existed for hundreds of years, when the King of Thailand at that time ordered French engineers to conduct a canal construction survey. If this canal is completed, then traffic from Andaman Bay to the Gulf of Thailand will be faster, without having to go through the Strait of Malacca. Reportedly, if the Kra Canal is opened, Sabang Port, Aceh, and Kuala Tanjung Port, Medan, will develop.
The canals mentioned above--for example--are means or paths for the spread of human civilization. If in the past people tended to assume that civilization spread only through sea routes, now non-sea routes such as small rivers, or canals are also means for the spread of human civilization.
In the humans context, humans can actually also be channels for the spread of civilization. For example, knowledgeable humans, they become the means for people to become smart, and society to become literate. Community leaders also become channels for the security and welfare of the community or society.
As channels, the sea, rivers, humans, and also technology become the means for the mobility of civilization. When the internet was present en masse, humans who initially wanted to control it were later unable to be controlled by the internet. When they didn't have a smartphone, they said they would control the cellphone, but when it was in their hands, they were slowly controlled by the cellphone. Here, cellphones become channels for the formation of human awareness and action.
When buzzers were not yet a profession, we tended to see people's posts as they were. But when the media mentions the existence of a 'buzzer profession', we understand that human actions are not what they are; there are always 'double intentions' behind a single post. Here, political buzzers become a channel for support for something. If observed closely, their posts also respond to each other, supporting each other.
Books can also be a channel for the formation of humans and their civilization. Why national figures in difficult times - unlike now which are relatively easy - can think and be magnanimous, it is very possible that their reading is also extensive. Unfortunately, currently many people are highly educated, have many degrees but for some reason it is difficult to get meaningful ideas from them. Maybe they don't read enough, or those degrees were obtained in a dishonorable way.
Humans, nature, and technology are channels for the formation of civilization. Even on a small scale, the nuclear family (father, mother, and child) can each be a channel for the formation of civilization, or the highest collection of civilized human actions.
The canals, from the story of the Greek hero to the 'family canal' are part of a long story of how humans interact with themselves, communities, and nature to create something on earth. Previously there was none, then it was created. Not only just passing through the existing canals, but the noble task of humans is how to open new canals as a path for the birth of a new civilization.
YANUARDI SYUKUR is an Indonesian writer who is also a lecturer, editor, researcher and speaker at various conferences and expert resource person on several Indonesian television stations and ministries. He has participated in various international programs in Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, the United States, as well as Ukraine. He is an anthropologist at Khairun University who is interested in various global issues. He is currently also active as Vice Chairman of the Islamic and Middle East Research Center (IMERC) of the University of Indonesia and is active in the Commission on Foreign Relations and International Cooperation of the Indonesian Ulama Council. E-mail: yanuardisyukur@gmail.com.
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