A canal linking the Mediterranean with the Atlantic was originally envisaged by the Romans but it was not until the 17th century that a project to achieve this was to get underway.

Pierre Paul Riquet (1604-1680) a civil engineer from Béziers designed and constructed this amazing 240 km/150 mile long canal linking the south coast at Sète to Toulouse where it joined the River Garonne which flows into the Gironde near Bordeaux. Undoubtedly the biggest civil engineering feat of the 17th century and endorsed by the Sun King Louis XIV himself, this meant that goods could be shipped from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic quickly thus avoiding an often dangerous journey around the Iberian Peninsula which could take a month.

Construction of the canal proved problematical as hills had to be navigated around and water to feed the canal had to be collected. Riquet had to borrow money to carry on but the the burden of the enterprise was too much and he died exhausted in 1680 just before completion.