The canal is quite large, with a Class IV Freycinet gauge, and its Walloon portion is 47.9 kilometres (29.8 mi) long.

[1] The idea of a waterway to serve the cities of Hainaut, linking them ultimately with Antwerp, was first put forward during the reign of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy (1396–1467).

The authorities of Mechelen, the sole city allowed to tax water transport on the Senne, protested extensively at the prospect of the construction of a parallel canal, and the project was abandoned.

As part of France from 1795 to 1815, proposals to build the canal were hampered by Napoleon's focus on waging expansionist wars.

The Sambre and Marne valleys are quite rich in coal, and during the reign of King William I of the Netherlands (1813–1840), concrete plans to extend the canal were at last made.

Jean-François Gendebien, a very prominent Belgian politician (although Belgium was then called the Southern Netherlands and was not independent) supported the idea, though finances had the last say in the matter, resulting in locks being chosen over inclined planes.

As Belgian industry began to flourish in the City of Brussels and its neighbouring municipalities, the land surrounding the canal became increasingly important and diverse.

[2] This area along the water was a booming marketplace crucial to the up-rise of urbanisation, and in turn to the modernisation of Brussels and the other cities connected by the canal.

[3] After a first period of rapid industrialisation that had taken place sometime between the 1750s and 1780s, the opening of the canal greatly increased the traffic of coal and thus the mechanisation of industry, which led to the development of foundries, engineering and metalworking companies.

The growth of international and domestic trade coupled with an increase in capital investment from wealthy landowners and merchants produced tons of jobs in the canal area.

The last major improvement to the canal was the addition, in 1968, of the Class IV, 1350 tonne inclined plane at Ronquières, just uphill of Lock #5 at Ittre.