Building the Suez Canal - 1859-1869 Panama Canal Building the Suez Canal - 1859-1869 The Suez Canal is usually considered the most important example of ship canals, though the number of vessels passing through it annually does not equal that passing through the canals connecting Lake Superior with the chain of great lakes at the south. In length, however, it exceeds any of the other great ship canals, its total length being ninety miles, of which about two-thirds is through shallow lakes. The pilot study estimated that a total of 2,613 million cubic feet of earth would have to be moved, including 600 million on land, and another 2,013 million dredged from water. The total original cost estimate was 200 million francs. The material excavated was usually sand, though in some cases strata of solid rock, from two to three feet in thickness, were encountered. The total excavation was about 80,000,000 cubic yards [2,160 million cubic feet] under the original plan, which gave a depth of twenty-five feet.

When at first the company ran into financial problems, it was Pasha Said who purchased 44 percent of the company to keep it in operation. However, the British and Turks were concerned with the venture and managed to have work suspended for a short time, until the intervention of Napoleon III. Excavation of the canal actually began on April 25th, 1859, and between then and 1862, the first part of the canal was completed. By 1861 the Lesseps Company had been ostensibly at work for nearly ten years at a canal that was to be a hundred feet wide and thirty feet deep from sea to sea, with ports for sea-going ships on the Mediterranean and Eed Sea ends; and yet up to that moment, though a very large part of their nominal capital had been spent, not one single spadeful had been turned up for the construction of this canal.

Lesseps had begun what he calls his 'rigole,' a boat canal twelve feet wide and four feet deep, of which one-third, beginning from the north, had been finished; a second third completed in the spring or early summer of 1862, and the remaining third would be more easily finished by letting the water of the Bed Sea into a salt marsh some way to the north of Suez. Lesseps was eager about this, because he thought his shares would rise in the market at Paris if he could show that he had actually floated a boat from sea to sea. But he was reluctant to tell his shareholders what is nevertheless the fact, that this boat canal, or 'rigole,' is not to form any part whatever of the ship canal; the ship canal is to be dug in a line parallel to this boat canal, and the boat canal is only to be used like a railway, for the easier conveyance of workmen, provisions, and materials as the great work goes on. There was scarcely one among the French engineers employed who would not, if he told the truth, acknowledge that the ship canal could not be made without an amount of money and a period of time far exceeding all the calculations hitherto made.

However, after Ismail succeeded Pasha Said in 1863, the work was again suspended. After Ferdinand De Lesseps again appealed to Napoleon III, an international commission was formed in March of 1864. The commission resolved the problems and within three years, the canal was completed. The dredges used in the construction of the canal were of a new description. They were wonderful mechanical contrivances, and but for them the canal would not have been finished. They were not the contrivance of M. Lesseps, but of one of the contractors, a distinguished engineer, who received his technical education in France but his practical experience in England. The use of the dredging machines w as prepared for by digging out a rough trough by spade work, and as soon as it had been dug to the depth of from six feet to twelve feet, the water was let in. After the water had been let in, the steam dredges were floated down the stream, moored along the bank, and set to work. The dredges were of two kinds.

The great couloirs consisted of a long, broad, flat bottomed barge, on which stood a huge framework of wood, supporting an endless chain of heavy iron buckets. The chain was turned by steam, and the height of the axle was shifted from time to time, so that the empty buckets, as they revolved round and round, should always strike the bottom of the canal at a fixed angle. As they were dragged over the soil they scooped up a quantity of mud and sand and water, and as each bucket reached its highest point in the round, it discharged its contents into a long iron pipe which ran out at right angles to the barge. The further extremity of this pipe stretched for some yards beyond the bank of the canal, and therefore, when the dredging was going on, there was a constant stream of liquid mud pouring from the pipe's mouth upon the shore, and thus raising the height of the embankment. When the hollow scooped out by the buckets had reached the required depth, the dredge was moved to another place, and the same process was repeated over and over again.

These stationary dredges, however, though very effective, required much time in moving, and the lighter work of the canal was chiefly effected by movable dredges of a smaller size. These machines were of the same construction as those described; the only difference was that the mud raised by their agency was not poured directly on shore by pipes attached to the dredges, but was emptied in the first instance into large barges moored alongside the dredge. These barges were divided into compartments, each of which contained a railway truck, and when the barge was filled it steered away to the bank, where an elevator was fixed. The trucks, filled with mud were raised by a crane worked by steam power, and placed upon inclined rails, attached to the elevator, which sloped upwards at an angle of 45 degrees towards the bank. They were then drawn up the rails by an endless rope, and as each truck reached the end of the rails its side fell open, the mud was shot out upon the bank, and the empty truck returned by another set of rails to the platform on which the elevator was placed, and was thence lowered into the barge to which it belonged.

As the elevator could un-load and re-load a barge much faster than the dredges could fill it with mud, each elevator was fed by half a dozen dredges, and thus the mud raised from the canal by several dredges was carted away without difficulty at one and the same time. As these floating dredges were much easier to shift than those encumbered by the long couloir pipes, the work of excavating the bed went on much more rapidly. But in places where there was any great mass of earth or sand to be removed, the large couloirs could scoop out a given volume in a shorter time. The Fresh Water or Isma'iliyeh Canal, constructed in 1858-63 to supply the towns on the Suez Canal with drinking-water and enlarged in 1876, was in great part a restoration of an earlier canal, dating from the Middle Empire. This ancient canal, which began at the Nile, watered the land of Goshen with its branches, and entering the Bitter Lakes, changed their character, according to Strabo, and connected them with the Red Sea.

The cbannel of the old canal, which was re-discovered by the French expedition of 1798, is still traceable at places, and its direction has frequently been followed by the engineers of M. de Lesseps. The remains of scarps of masonry show it to have been about 60 yds. in width, and 16-17 1/2 ft. in depth. According to Herodotus the canal was four days' journey, and according to Pliny 62 Roman miles, in length. In ancient times the canal was primarily constructed for purposes of navigation, and it is still used by numerous small barges; but it is now chiefly important as a channel for conducting fresh water to the towns on its banks, particularly Isma'iliya and Suez, and as a means of irrigating and fertilizing the country through which it passes. Near Cairo the canal diverges from the Nile to the N. of the Kasr en-Nil, and thence traces to the N.E. the boundary between the Arabian plateau (on the N.) and the land of Goshen (on the S.). To the E.

of Abu Hammad it Intersects the ancient fresh-water canal coming from Zakazik, and then runs to the E., parallel with this, through the Wadi Tamitdi, which is over 30 M. in length. At Neftsheh the canal forks; the S. arm leads to Suez, while the N. arm leads to Port Sa'id. On November 17, 1869 the barrage of the Suez plains reservoir was breached and waters of the Mediterranean flowed into the Red Sea and the canal was opened for international navigation. The completion of the Suez Canal was a cause for considerable celebration. In Port Said, the extravaganza began with fireworks and a ball attended by six thousand people. They included many heads of state, including the Empress Eugenie, the Emperor of Austria, the Prince of Wales, the Prince of Prussia and the Prince of the Netherlands. Two convoys of ships entered the canal from its southern and northern points and met at Ismailia. Parties continued for weeks, and the celebration also marked the opening of Ismail's old Opera House in Cairo, which is now gone.

NEWSLETTER Canal History Canal History Time in SC: GMT+2 Canal & The Society The Suez Canal ’s role is not confined to servicing the world trade. It goes beyond that to serve the Canal Zone community ... Canal History Historical Outline: Egypt was the first country to dig a man-made canal across its lands to connect the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea via the branches of the River Nile. The first who dug it was Senausert III, Pharaoh of Egypt (1874 B.C.). This canal was abandoned to silting and reopened several times as follows: - Canal of Sity I 640 A.D. The Suez Canal is actually the first canal that directly links the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. It was opened for navigation on the 17 th of November 1869. Egypt nationalized the canal on the 26 th of July 1956. The Canal was closed five times; the last time was the most serious one since it lasted for 8 years. The Canal was then reopened for navigation on the 5 th of June 1975.

Suez Canal History: It is recorded that Egypt was the first country to dig a canal across its land with a view to activate world trade. The Suez Canal is considered to be the shortest link between the east and the west due to its unique geographic location; it is an important international navigation canal linking between the Mediterranean sea at Port said and the red sea at Suez. The idea of linking the Mediterranean sea with the red sea by a canal dates back to 40 centuries as it was pointed out through history starting by the pharaohs era passing by the Islamic era until it was dredged reaching its current condition today. It is considered to be the first artificial canal to be used in Travel and Trade. The Whole Idea of establishing a canal linking between the red sea and the Mediterranean dates back to the oldest times, as Egypt dredged the first artificial canal on the planet’s surface. The pharaohs dredged a canal link in between river Nile and the red sea. The inscriptions in the tomb of Weni the Elder, who lived during the 6th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom (c.

2407-2260 BC) tell us a lot about Egyptian canal building and the reasons for building them - (for war ships and for transporting monument stone). Scholars are still debating, however, whether his waterways ran all the way from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. The first canal was dug under the reign of Senausret III, Pharao of Egypt (1887-1849 BC) linking the Mediterranean Sea in the north with the Red sea in the south via the river Nile and its branches. The Canal often abandoned to silting and was successfully reopened to navigation by Sity I (1310 BC), Necho II (610 BC), Persian King Darius (522 BC), Polemy II (285 BC), Emperor Trajan (117 AD) and Amro Ibn Elass (640 AD), following the Islamic conquest. Under Necho II , a canal was built between the Pelusian branch of the Nile and the northern end of the Bitter Lakes (which lies between the two seas) at a cost of, reportedly, 100,000 lives.

However, over many years, the canal fell into disrepair, only to be extended, abandoned, and rebuilt again. Necho was the first who attempted the channel leading to the Erythraian Sea (Red sea and Gulf of Suez which was extended to near by Ismailia city), which Dareios the Persian afterwards completed: the length of this is a voyage of four days, and in breadth it was so dug that two triremes could go side by side driven by oars; and the water is brought into it from the Nile.

The channel is conducted a little above the city of Bubastis (near by Zagazig city) by Patumos the Arabian city (Near by Ismailia city), and runs into the Erythraian Sea: and it is dug first along those parts of the plain of Egypt which lie towards Arabia (Eastern desert), just above which run the mountains which extend opposite Memphis (south of Cairo), where are the stone-quarries,--along the base of these mountains the channel is conducted from West to East for a great way; and after that it is directed towards a break in the hills and tends from these mountains towards the noon-day and the South Wind to the Arabian gulf (Gulf of Suez).

Now in the place where the journey is least and shortest from the Northern to the Southern Sea (which is also called Erythraian), that is from Mount Casion (east of Port Said), which is the boundary between Egypt and Syria, the distance is exactly a thousand furlongs (1 furlongs equals about 200 meter) to the Arabian gulf; but the channel is much longer, since it is more winding; and in the reign of Necos there perished while digging it twelve myriads of the Egyptians. Now Necos ceased in the midst of his digging, because the utterance of an Oracle impeded him, which was to the effect that he was working for the Barbarian: and the Egyptians call all men Barbarians who do not agree with them in speech. After having been neglected, it was rebuilt by the Persian ruler, Darius I (522-486 BC), whose canal can still be seen along the Wadi Tumilat. According to Herodotus, his canal was wide enough that two triremes could pass each other with oars extended, and that it took four days to navigate.

He commemorated the completion of his canal with a series of granite stelae set up along the Nile bank. This canal is said to have been extended to the Red Sea by Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-246 BC), abandoned during the early Roman rule, but rebuilt again by Trajan (98-117 AD). Over the next several centuries, it once again was abandoned and sometimes dredged by various rulers for various but limited purposes. Amro Ibn Elass rebuilt the canal after the Islamic takeover of Egypt linking the Nile to the Red Sea creating a new supply line from Cairo . It was used for shipping grain to Arabia and to transport the pilgrimages to the Holy Land. The canal was stopped up in 767 AD by the Abbasid caliph El-Mansur to cut off supplies to insurgents located in the Delta and to starve out rebels in Medina. In modern times the Suez Canal is actually the first canal directly linking the Mediterranean to the Red sea. The first efforts to build a modern canal came from the Egypt expedition of Napoleon Bonaparte, who hoped the project would create a devastating trade problem for the English.

Though this project was begun in 1799 by Charles Le Pere, a miscalculation estimated that the levels between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea were too great (estimating that the Red Sea was some ten meters higher than that of the Mediterranean Sea) and work was quickly suspended. Napoleon was told that the Red Sea was 30 feet higher than the Mediterranean. Dig a canal, his surveyors said, and the Red Sea will hemorrhage into the Mediterranean. Napoleon's engineers also considered the idea of a canal running directly between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, but they miscalculated a difference of ten meters between the two sea levels and gave up the idea, and it would sweep away the Nile Delta. Then, in 1833, a group of French intellectuals known as the Saint-Simoniens arrived in Cairo and they became very interested in the Suez project despite such problems as the difference in sea levels. Unfortunately, at that time Mohammed Ali had little interest in the project, and in 1835, the Saint-Simoniens were devastated by a plague epidemic. Most of the twenty or so engineers returned to France.

They did leave behind several enthusiasts for the canal, including Ferdinand de Lesseps (who was then the French vice-consul in Alexandria) and Linant de Bellefonds In Paris, the Saint-Simoniens created an association in 1846 to study the possibility of the Suez Canal once again. In 1847, Bourdaloue confirmed that there was no real difference in the levels between the Mediterranean and Red Seas, and it was Linant de Bellefonds that drew up the technical report. Unfortunately, there was considerable British opposition to the project, and Mohammed Ali, who was ill by this time, was less than enthusiastic. In 1854 the French diplomat and engineer Vicomte Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps succeeded in enlisting the interest of the Egyptian viceroy Said Pasha in the project. In 1858 La Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez (Universal Company of the Maritime Suez Canal) was formed with authority to cut a canal and to operate it for 99 years, after which ownership would return to the Egyptian government. The company was originally a private Egyptian concern, its stock owned chiefly by French and Egyptian interests.

In 1875 the British government purchased Egypt's shares. The pilot study estimated that a total of 2,613 million cubic feet of earth would have to be moved, including 600 million on land, and another 2,013 million dredged from water. The total original cost estimate was 200 million francs. When at first the company ran into financial problems, it was Pasha Said who purchased 44 percent of the company to keep it in operation. However, the British and Turks were concerned with the venture and managed to have work suspended for a short time, until the intervention of Napoleon III. Excavation of the canal actually began on April 25th, 1859, and between then and 1862, the first part of the canal was completed. However, after Ismail succeeded Pasha Said in 1863, the work was again suspended. After Ferdinand De Lesseps again appealed to Napoleon III, an international commission was formed in March of 1864. The commission resolved the problems and within three years, the canal was completed.

On November 17, 1869 the barrage of the Suez plains reservoir was breached and waters of the Mediterranean flowed into the Red Sea and the canal was opened for international navigation. Completion of the 160- kilometer long waterway, however, took ten years of excruciating and poorly compensated labor by Egyptian workers, who were drafted at the rate of 20,000 every ten months from the ranks of the peasantry. The completion of the Suez Canal was a cause for considerable celebration. In Port Said , the extravaganza began with fireworks and a ball attended by six thousand people. They included many heads of state, including the Empress Eugenie, the Emperor of Austria, the Prince of Wales, the Prince of Prussia and the Prince of the Netherlands. Two convoys of ships entered the canal from its southern and northern points and met at Ismailia. Parties continued for weeks, and the celebration also marked the opening of Ismail's old Opera House in Cairo , which is now gone.

Because of external debts, the British government purchased the shares owned by Egyptian interests, namely those of Said Pasha, in 1875, for some 400,000 pounds sterling. Yet France continued to have a majority interest. Under the terms of an international convention signed in 1888 (The Convention of Constantinople), the canal was opened to vessels of all nations without discrimination, in peace and war. Nevertheless, Britain considered the canal vital to the maintenance of its maritime power and colonial interests. Therefore, the provisions of the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 allowed Britain to maintain a defensive force along the Suez Canal Zone. However, Egyptian nationalists demanded repeatedly that Britain evacuate the Suez Canal Zone, and in 1954 the two countries signed a seven-year agreement that superseded the 1936 treaty and provided for the gradual withdrawal of all British troops from the zone. The canal remained under the control of two powers until Nasser nationalized it in 1956; it has since been operated by the Suez Canal Authority . The canal was closed to navigation twice in the contemporary period.

The first closure was brief, coming after the tripartite British-French-Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956, an invasion primarily motivated by the nationalization of the waterway. The canal was reopened in 1957. The second closure occurred after the June 1967 War with Israel and lasted until 1975, when Egypt and Israel signed the second disengagement accord. After July 1952 Revolution, president Gamal Abd El Naser publicized the canal in announcement in (26 July, 1956) making the management of the canal a 100% Egyptian, which enraged the major countries leading to the Triad assault on Egypt in (29 October, 1956) which caused to the closing of the canal and it was reopened in (march 1957). Canal History 13th century BCE, A canal is constructed between the Nile Delta and the Red Sea. For the following centuries, the canal was only partially maintained... 1854, By a French initiative, the viceroy of Egypt, Said Pasha, decides for a project to build a canal from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea...

1858, La Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez is formed to construct the canal. 17 Nov 1869, With great splendour, the canal is opened for navigation. Dimensions were 22 metre in bottom width, 58 metre in surface width, and a depth of 8 metres... 2 Mar 1888, The Convention of Constantinople guaranteed right of passage of all ships through the Suez Canal during war and peace... 13 Jun 1956, Suez Canal Zone restored to Egypt. 26 Jul 1956, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal. 5 Jun 1975, Suez Canal reopened... Suez Canal: History and Overview - Geography Geography Suez Canal Connects the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea Egptian Suez Canal Has Been Center of Conflict The guided missile destroyer USS Scott transits the Suez Canal. Getty Images Suez Canal Construction History Although the Suez Canal wasn't officially completed until 1869, there is a long history of interest in connecting both the Nile River in Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.

It is believed that the first canal in the area was constructed between the Nile River delta and the Red Sea in the 13th Century B.C.E. During the 1,000 years following its construction, the original canal was neglected and its use finally stopped in the 8th Century. The first modern attempts to build a canal came in the late 1700s when Napoleon Bonaparte conducted an expedition to Egypt. He believed that building a French controlled canal on the Isthmus of Suez would cause trade problems for the British as they would either have to pay dues to France or continue sending goods over land or around the southern part of Africa. continue reading below our video Test Your General Science Knowledge Studies for Napoleon's canal plan began in 1799 but a miscalculation in measurement showed the sea levels between the Mediterranean and the Red Seas as being too different for a canal to be feasible and construction immediately stopped. The next attempt to build a canal in the area occurred in the mid-1800s when a French diplomat and engineer, Ferdinand de Lesseps, convinced the Egyptian viceroy Said Pasha to support the building of a canal.

In 1858, the Universal Suez Ship Canal Company was formed and given the right to begin construction of the canal and operate it for 99 years, after which time, the Egyptian government would take over control of the canal. At its founding, the Universal Suez Ship Canal Company was owned by French and Egyptian interests. Construction of the Suez Canal officially began on April 25, 1859. It opened ten years later on November 17, 1869 at a cost of $100 million. Suez Canal Use and Control Almost immediately after its opening, the Suez Canal had a significant impact on world trade as goods were moved around the world in record time. In 1875, debt forced Egypt to sell its shares in ownership of the Suez Canal to the United Kingdom . However, an international convention in 1888 made the canal available for all ships from any nation to use. Shortly thereafter, conflicts began to arise over use and control of the Suez Canal. In 1936 for example, the U.K. was given the right to maintain military forces in the Suez Canal Zone and control entry points.

In 1954, Egypt and the U.K. signed a seven year contract that resulted in the withdrawal of British forces from the canal area and allowed Egypt to take control of the former British installations. In addition, with the creation of Israel in 1948, the Egyptian government prohibited the use of the canal by ships coming and going from the country. Also in the 1950s, the Egyptian government was working on a way to finance the Aswan High Dam . Initially it had support from the United States and the U.K. but in July 1956, both nations withdrew their support and the Egyptian government seized and nationalized the canal so passage fees could be used to pay for the dam. On October 29 of that same year, Israel invaded Egypt and two days later Britain and France followed on grounds that passage through the canal was to be free. In retaliation, Egypt blocked the canal by intentionally sinking 40 ships. These events were known as the Suez Crisis. In November 1956, the Suez Crisis ended when the United Nations arranged a truce between the four nations. The Suez Canal then reopened in March 1957 when the sunken ships were removed.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the Suez Canal was closed several more times because of conflicts between Egypt and Israel. In 1962, Egypt made its final payments for the canal to its original owners (the Universal Suez Ship Canal Company) and the nation took full control of the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal Today Today, the Suez Canal is operated by the Suez Canal Authority. The canal itself is 101 miles (163 km) long and 984 feet (300 m) wide. It begins at the Mediterranean Sea at Point Said flows through Ismailia in Egypt, and ends at Suez on the Gulf of Suez. It also has a railroad running its entire length parallel to its west bank. The Suez Canal can accommodate ships with a vertical height (draft) of 62 feet (19 m) or 210,000 deadweight tons. Most of the Suez Canal is not wide enough for two ships to pass side by side. To accommodate this, there is one shipping lane and several passing bays where ships can wait for others to pass.

The Suez Canal has no locks because Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea's Gulf of Suez have approximately the same water level. It takes around 11 to 16 hours to pass through the canal and ships must travel at a low speed to prevent erosion of the canal's banks by the ships' waves. Significance of the Suez Canal In addition to dramatically reducing transit time for trade worldwide, the Suez Canal is one of the world's most significant waterways as it supports 8% of the world's shipping traffic and almost 50 ships pass through the canal daily. Because of its narrow width, the canal is also considered a significant geographic chokepoint as it could easily be blocked and disrupt this flow of trade. Future plans for the Suez Canal include a project to widen and deepen the canal to accommodate the passage of larger and more ships at one time. To read more about the Suez Canal visit the Suez Canal Authority official website. 1000+ images about The Suez Canal, Egypt on Pinterest | Port said, Egypt and Ferdinand Forward Hundreds of Egyptians digging the Suez Canal, working in lines on a cliff overlooking a deep, narrow canyon, 1859.

After many efforts throughout history, the canal was completed and opened in 1869. Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French developer of the canal, organized the Suez Canal Company in 1858 and work started in 1859. The excavation took 10 years, and used Egyptian slave labor for part of that time. More than 1.5 million workers from various countries worked on the project, and thousands… 4 Suez Canal opens - Nov 17, 1869 - HISTORY.com Suez Canal opens Publisher A+E Networks The Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean and the Red seas, is inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony attended by French Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. In 1854, Ferdinand de Lesseps, the former French consul to Cairo, secured an agreement with the Ottoman governor of Egypt to build a canal 100 miles across the Isthmus of Suez. An international team of engineers drew up a construction plan, and in 1856 the Suez Canal Company was formed and granted the right to operate the canal for 99 years after completion of the work.

Construction began in April 1859, and at first digging was done by hand with picks and shovels wielded by forced laborers. Later, European workers with dredgers and steam shovels arrived. Labor disputes and a cholera epidemic slowed construction, and the Suez Canal was not completed until 1869–four years behind schedule. On November 17, 1869, the Suez Canal was opened to navigation. Ferdinand de Lesseps would later attempt, unsuccessfully, to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. When it opened, the Suez Canal was only 25 feet deep, 72 feet wide at the bottom, and 200 to 300 feet wide at the surface. Consequently, fewer than 500 ships navigated it in its first full year of operation. Major improvements began in 1876, however, and the canal soon grew into the one of the world’s most heavily traveled shipping lanes. In 1875, Great Britain became the largest shareholder in the Suez Canal Company when it bought up the stock of the new Ottoman governor of Egypt.

Seven years later, in 1882, Britain invaded Egypt, beginning a long occupation of the country. The Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936 made Egypt virtually independent, but Britain reserved rights for the protection of the canal. After World War II, Egypt pressed for evacuation of British troops from the Suez Canal Zone, and in July 1956 Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the canal, hoping to charge tolls that would pay for construction of a massive dam on the Nile River. In response, Israel invaded in late October, and British and French troops landed in early November, occupying the canal zone. Under pressure from the United Nations, Britain and France withdrew in December, and Israeli forces departed in March 1957. That month, Egypt took control of the canal and reopened it to commercial shipping. Ten years later, Egypt shut down the canal again following the Six Day War and Israel’s occupation of the Sinai Peninsula. For the next eight years, the Suez Canal, which separates the Sinai from the rest of Egypt, existed as the front line between the Egyptian and Israeli armies.

In 1975, Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat reopened the Suez Canal as a gesture of peace after talks with Israel. Today, an average of 50 ships navigate the canal daily, carrying more than 300 million tons of goods a year. Related Videos What two bodies of water does the Suez Canal connect? | Reference.com What two bodies of water does the Suez Canal connect? A: Quick Answer The two bodies of water connected by the Suez Canal are the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. The Suez Canal is located through a narrow strip of land in the north of Egypt. Full Answer The Suez Canal was opened to commercial shipping in 1869. The canal measures 100.82 miles, with a northern access channel 14 miles in length and a southern access channel 5.6 miles long. Its northern point on the Mediterranean sea is Port Said, while its southern point along the Red Sea is Port Tewfik. The canal reduces the sea voyage between Europe and Asia by about 4,300 miles.

Ground broken for Suez Canal - Apr 25, 1859 - HISTORY.com Ground broken for Suez Canal Share this: Ground broken for Suez Canal Author Ground broken for Suez Canal URL Publisher A+E Networks At Port Said, Egypt, ground is broken for the Suez Canal, an artificial waterway intended to stretch 101 miles across the isthmus of Suez and connect the Mediterranean and the Red seas. Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French diplomat who organized the colossal undertaking, delivered the pickax blow that inaugurated construction. Artificial canals have been built on the Suez region, which connects the continents of Asia and Africa, since ancient times. Under the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt, a channel connected the Bitter Lakes to the Red Sea, and a canal reached northward from Lake Timsah as far as the Nile River. These canals fell into disrepair or were intentionally destroyed for military reasons. As early as the 15th century, Europeans speculated about building a canal across the Suez, which would allow traders to sail from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea, rather than having to sail the great distance around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.

The first serious survey of the isthmus occurred during the French occupation of Egypt at the end of the 18th century, and General Napoleon Bonaparte personally inspected the remains of an ancient canal. France made further studies for a canal, and in 1854 Ferdinand de Lesseps, the former French consul to Cairo, secured an agreement with the Ottoman governor of Egypt to build a canal. An international team of engineers drew up a construction plan, and in 1856 the Suez Canal Company was formed and granted the right to operate the canal for 99 years after completion of the work. Construction began in April 1859, and at first digging was done by hand with picks and shovels wielded by forced laborers. Later, European workers with dredgers and steam shovels arrived. Labor disputes and a cholera epidemic slowed construction, and the Suez Canal was not completed until 1869–four years behind schedule. On November 17, 1869, the Suez Canal was officially inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony attended by French Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III.

Ferdinand de Lesseps would later attempt, unsuccessfully, to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. He died in 1894. When it opened, the Suez Canal was only 25 feet deep, 72 feet wide at the bottom, and 200 to 300 feet wide at the surface. Consequently, fewer than 500 ships navigated it in its first full year of operation. Major improvements began in 1876, however, and the canal soon grew into the one of the world’s most heavily traveled shipping lanes. In 1875, Great Britain became the largest shareholder in the Suez Canal Company when it bought up the stock of the new Ottoman governor of Egypt. Seven years later, in 1882, Britain invaded Egypt, beginning a long occupation of the country. The Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936 made Egypt virtually independent, but Britain reserved rights for the protection of the canal.

After World War II, Egypt pressed for evacuation of British troops from the Suez Canal Zone, and in July 1956 Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the canal, hoping to charge tolls that would pay for construction of a massive dam on the Nile River. In response, Israel invaded in late October, and British and French troops landed in early November, occupying the canal zone. Under pressure from the United Nations, Britain and France withdrew in December, and Israeli forces departed in March 1957. That month, Egypt took control of the canal and reopened it to commercial shipping. Ten years later, Egypt shut down the canal again following the Six Day War and Israel’s occupation of the Sinai peninsula. For the next eight years, the Suez Canal, which separates the Sinai from the rest of Egypt, existed as the front line between the Egyptian and Israeli armies. In 1975, Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat reopened the Suez Canal as a gesture of peace after talks with Israel. Today, an average of 50 ships navigate the canal daily, carrying more than 300 million tons of goods a year. Related Videos

Question: What man-made waterway was constructed between 1859 and 1869?
Answer: Suez Canal