Tidal Basin as an artificial inlet

The Tidal Basin is a man-made inlet of the Potomac River created in the 19th century to help control tidal flooding and to provide a regulated water body between the river and the Washington City Canal. The Jefferson Memorial and its surrounding peninsula sit on the banks of this engineered basin rather than on a wholly natural shoreline. The basin's creation and subsequent shoreline engineering significantly altered the original Potomac marshes and river edge in this part of the city.