Portage

Portage refers to the practice of carrying watercraft or cargo over land to avoid river obstacles, or between two bodies of water. A place where this carrying occurs is also called a portage; a person doing the carrying is called a porter.

The name of Portage is derived from the french word "portage" and the french verb "porter" : to carry. Early French explorers ventured in New France and French Louisiana encountered many rapids and cascades. The Amerindians carried their canoes over land to avoid river obstacles. The french coureurs des bois and trappers used the french word "portage".

Over time, important portages were sometimes upgraded to canals with locks, and even portage railways. Primative portaging generally involves carrying the vessel and its contents across the portage in multiple trips. Small canoes can be portaged by carrying them inverted over one's shoulders and the center thwart may be designed in the style of a yoke to facilitate this. Historically, Voyageurs often employed a tump line on their head to carry a load on their back.

Portages can be many kilometers in length, such as the 19 km Methye Portage, and often cover hilly or difficult terrain. Some portages are nearly level, such as Mavis Grind in Shetland, which crosses an Isthmus.

In Africa
Portages played an important part in the economy of some African societies. For instance, Bamako was chosen as the capital of Mali because it is located on the Niger River near the rapids that divide the Upper and Middle Niger Valleys.

In Greece
The Diolkos was a paved trackway in Ancient Greece which enabled boats to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth from the Gulf of Corinth to the Saronic Gulf. The 6 to 8.5 km long roadway was a rudimentary form of railway, and operated from ca. 600 BC until the middle of the 1st century AD.

In Russia
In the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries, the Viking merchants-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. The portages of present-day 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 the 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 upper portage", respectively (the word "volok" means "portage" in Russian, derived from the verb "to drag").

In North America
Places where portaging occurred often became temporary and then permanent settlements (such as Hull, Quebec; Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Chicago, Illinois). Sometimes the settlements were named for being on a portage, particularly in North America. Some places so named are:
 * Cranberry Portage, Manitoba
 * Giscome Portage, British Columbia
 * Grand Portage, Minnesota
 * Portage, Indiana
 * Portage, Michigan
 * Portage, Montana
 * Portage, Pennsylvania
 * Portage, Wisconsin
 * Portage Bay, Washington
 * Portage County, Ohio
 * Portage County, Wisconsin
 * Portage Park, Chicago
 * Portage-du-Fort, Quebec
 * Portage la Prairie, Manitoba
 * Rat Portage, Ontario
 * Seton Portage, British Columbia

In New Zealand
Portages existed in a number of locations where an isthmus existed that the local Mĝori could drag or carry their waka across from the Tasman Sea to the Pacific Ocean or vice versa. The most famous ones are located in Auckland, where there remain two 'Portage Road's in separate parts of the city.