Editing Portage (section)

===Europe===

====Greco-Roman world====
[[File:Diolkos, Western End. Pic 04.jpg|thumb|upright|Paved section of the ''[[Diolkos]]'']]

The ''[[Diolkos]]'' was a paved trackway in [[Ancient Greece]] which enabled boats to be moved overland across the [[Isthmus of Corinth]] between the [[Gulf of Corinth]] and the [[Saronic Gulf]]. It was constructed to transport high ranking [[Despotism|Despots]] to conduct business in the justice system. The {{convert|6|to(-)|8.5|km|mi|frac=2|adj=mid|-long}} roadway was a rudimentary form of [[railway]],<ref name="lewis">{{citation
 |last          = Lewis
 |first         = M. j. t.
 |contribution  = Railways in the Greek and Roman world
 |title         = Early Railways. A Selection of Papers from the First International Early Railways Conference
 |editor-last   = Guy
 |editor-first  = A.
 |editor2-last  = Rees
 |editor2-first = J.
 |pages         = 8–19 (10–15)
 |year          = 2001
 |url           = http://www.sciencenews.gr/docs/diolkos.pdf
 |url-status       = dead
 |archive-url    = https://web.archive.org/web/20091007111319/http://www.sciencenews.gr/docs/diolkos.pdf
 |archive-date   = 2009-10-07
}}</ref> and operated from around 600 BC until the middle of the 1st century AD.<ref name="raepsaet">{{citation
 | last1 = Raepsaet
 | first1 = G.
 | last2 = Tolley
 | first2 = M.
 | title = Le Diolkos de l'Isthme à Corinthe: son tracé, son fonctionnement
 | journal = Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique
|language=fr
 | volume = 117
 | pages = 233–261
 | year = 1993
 | doi=10.3406/bch.1993.1679}}
</ref>
<ref name=verdelis>{{citation
 | last = Verdelis
 | first = N. M.
 | title = Le diolkos de L'Isthme
 | journal = Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique
|language=fr
 | volume = 81
 | pages = 526&ndash;529
 | year = 1957
 | doi=10.3406/bch.1957.2388| url = http://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/bch_0007-4217_1957_num_81_1_2388.pdf
 }}</ref>
<ref name="cook">{{citation
 | last = Cook
 | first = R. M.
 |author-link = Robert Manuel Cook
 | title = Archaic Greek Trade: Three Conjectures 1. The Diolkos
 | journal = [[Journal of Hellenic Studies|The Journal of Hellenic Studies]]
 | volume = 99
 | pages = 152–155
 | year = 1979
 | doi=10.2307/630641| jstor = 630641
 }}</ref>
<ref name="drijvers">{{citation
 | last = Drijvers
 | first = J. W.
 | title = Strabo VIII 2,1 (C335): Porthmeia and the Diolkos
 | journal = Mnemosyne
 | volume = 45
 | pages = 75–78
 | year = 1992}}
</ref>
The scale on which the Diolkos combined the two principles of the railway and the overland transport of ships was unique in [[ancient history|antiquity]].<ref name=lewis/>

There is scant literary evidence for two more ship trackways referred to as diolkoi in antiquity, both located in [[Roman Egypt]]: The physician [[Oribasius]]<ref>Coll. Med II, 58, 54-55 (CMG VI, 1, 1)</ref> ({{circa|320–400&nbsp;CE}}) records two passages from his first-century colleague [[Xenocrates of Aphrodisias|Xenocrates]], in which the latter casually refers to a diolkos close to the harbor of [[Alexandria]], which may have been located at the southern tip of the island of Pharos.<ref name="fraser"/> Another diolkos is mentioned by [[Ptolemy]] (90–168&nbsp;CE) in his book on geography (IV, 5, 10) as connecting a false mouth of a partly silted up [[Nile]] branch with the [[Mediterranean Sea]].<ref name="fraser"/>

Writing in the first half of the eighth century, [[Cosmas of Jerusalem]] describes the portage of boats across the narrowest part of the [[Thracian Chersonese]] (Gallipoli Peninsula) between the [[Aegean Sea]] and the [[Sea of Marmara]]. The peninsula there is six miles wide. Cosmas describes the dragging of small boats as common in his day for local trade between [[Thrace]] and [[Gothograecia]]. The motivation for this practice was to avoid the long detour around the peninsula and through the [[Dardanelles]], but also to avoid the customs house at [[Abydos (Hellespont)|Abydos]]. It would have been too costly to regularly move large ships across the peninsula, but Cosmas says that [[Constantine IV]] did it, presumably during the [[Siege of Constantinople (674–678)|blockade of Constantinople]] (670/1–676/7) when the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles were controlled by the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyads]]. Constantine is said to have "driven" the ships rather than dragged them, probably indicating the use of wheels.<ref>{{citation |author=[[Constantin Zuckerman]] |year=1995 |title=A Gothia in the Hellespont in the Early Eighth Century |journal=Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=234–241 |doi=10.1179/030701395790836649|s2cid=162205022 }}.</ref> Archaeological evidence for a portage across the Thracian Chersonese is lacking, but it is possible that traces of it have been confused with traces of the [[Long Wall (Thracian Chersonese)|Long Wall]], which was restored by [[Justinian I]] in the 6th century. The region also saw extensive damage during the [[Gallipoli Campaign]] of 1915.<ref>{{citation |author=John F. Haldon |title=Kosmas of Jerusalem and the Gotthograikoi |journal=Byzantinoslavica |volume=56 |issue=1 |year=1995 |pages=45–54 |url=https://www.academia.edu/33042336}}.</ref>

====Pre-Viking and Viking era northern Germany====
The Skagerak always has been treacherous for shipping and early navigators tried to avoid it. There are various river systems in (modern) northern Germany and southern Denmark where the watershed is narrow and low, such as between the Treene (discharging into the North Sea) and the Schlei (discharging into the Baltic) that would have allowed portage. There is no certain physical or written evidence, except that it is known that goods were transported along these routes between different merchant settlements.

====Venetian Republic====
[[File:Mappa galeas colori.jpg|right|thumb|A map of the trip of the Venetian warships.]]
The land link between [[Adige]] River and [[Lake Garda|Garda]] Lake in [[Northern Italy]], hardly used by the smallest watercraft, was at least once used by the [[Venetian Republic]] for the transport of a military fleet in 1439. The land link is now somewhat harder because of the disappearance of [[Lago di Loppio|Loppio]] Lake.

====Russia====
{{Further|Don–Volga portage}}
[[File:Yermak Timofeyevich and his band of adventurers crossing the Ural Mountains at Tagil, entering Asia from Europe.jpg|thumb|[[Yermak Timofeyevich]] and his band of adventurers crossing the [[Ural Mountains]] over the Tagil portage, entering Asia from Europe]]

In the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries, [[Viking]] merchant-adventurers exploited a network of waterways in [[Eastern Europe]], with portages connecting the four most important rivers of the region: [[Volga]], [[Western Dvina]], [[Dnieper]], and [[Don River (Russia)|Don]]. The portages of what is now [[Russia]] were vital for the [[Varangian]] commerce with the [[Orient]] and [[Byzantium]].

At the most important portages (such as [[Gnezdovo]]) there were trade outposts inhabited by a mixture of Norse merchants and native population. The [[Khazars]] built the fortress of [[Sarkel]] to guard a key portage between the Volga and the Don. After Varangian and Khazar power in Eastern Europe waned, Slavic merchants continued to use the portages along the [[Volga trade route]] and the [[Dnieper trade route]].

The names of the towns [[Volokolamsk]] and [[Vyshny Volochek]] may be translated as "the portage on the [[Lama River]]" and "the little upper portage", respectively (from [[Russian language|Russian]] {{lang|ru|волок}} {{Transliteration|ru|volok}}, meaning "portage", derived from the verb {{lang|ru|волочить}} {{Transliteration|ru|voločitʹ}} "to drag").

In the 16th century, the Russians used river portages to get to [[Siberia]] (see [[Cherdyn Road]]).

====Scotland and Ireland====
[[Tarbert]] is a common place name in Scotland and Ireland indicating the site of a portage.