The City Canal was a short, and short-lived, canal excavated across the Isle of Dogs in east London, linking two reaches of the River Thames. Today, it has been almost completely reconstructed to form the South Dock of the West India Docks.
An 1802 painting of the completed West India Docks. The City Canal is to the left of the painting. The view is looking west towards the City of London
East Indiamen at City Canal, circa 1824
The Isle of Dogs is a large peninsula bounded on three sides by a large meander in the River Thames in East London, England, which includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, Hamlet, Parish and, for a time, the wider borough of Poplar. The name had no official status until the 1987 creation of the Isle of Dogs Neighbourhood by Tower Hamlets London Borough Council. It has been known locally as simply "the Island" since the 19th century.
Aerial view of the Isle of Dogs in 2015. The O2 Arena can be seen on the Greenwich Peninsula to the right (east) of the Isle of Dogs.
East Ferry Road, Isle of Dogs
1899 The Isle of Dogs, at the height of its Victorian commercial success
Heinkel He 111 bomber over the Surrey Commercial Docks in South London and Wapping and the Isle of Dogs in the East End of London on 7 September 1940