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. 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 Suez Canal Authority Read more 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... Egypt and Europe in the 19th Century Egypt and Europe in the 19th Century by Jim Jones (Copyright 2014, All Rights Reserved) 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...

9 Fascinating Facts About the Suez Canal - History in the Headlines 9 Fascinating Facts About the Suez Canal November 17, 2014 By Evan Andrews Painting of the Suez Canal by Albert Reiger Share this: 9 Fascinating Facts About the Suez Canal Author 9 Fascinating Facts About the Suez Canal URL Google On November 17, 1869, the Suez Canal connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas was officially opened in a lavish ceremony at Egypt’s Port Said. The canal took more than 15 years to plan and build, and its construction was repeatedly hindered by political disputes, labor shortages and even a deadly cholera outbreak. When finally completed, the 101-mile-long waterway permanently transformed international shipping by allowing vessels to skip the long and treacherous transit around the southern tip of Africa. On the 145th anniversary of its opening, check out nine surprising facts about the canal that links the Eastern and Western worlds. 1. Its origins date back to ancient Egypt. The modern Suez Canal is only the most recent of several manmade waterways that once snaked their way across Egypt.

The Egyptian Pharaoh Senusret III may have built an early canal connecting the Red Sea and the Nile River around 1850 B.C., and according to ancient sources, the Pharaoh Necho II and the Persian conqueror Darius both began and then abandoned work on a similar project. The canal was supposedly finished in the 3rd century B.C. during the Ptolemaic Dynasty, and many historical figures including Cleopatra may have traveled on it. Rather than the direct link offered by the modern Suez Canal, this ancient “Canal of the Pharaohs” would have wound its way the through the desert to the Nile River, which was then used to access the Mediterranean. 2. Napoleon Bonaparte considered building it. After conquering Egypt in 1798, the French military commander Napoleon Bonaparte sent a team of surveyors to investigate the feasibility of cutting the Isthmus of Suez and building a canal from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. But following four separate excursions to the region, his scouts incorrectly concluded that the Red Sea was at least 30 feet higher than the Mediterranean.

Any attempt to create a canal, they warned, could result in catastrophic flooding across the Nile Delta. The surveyors’ faulty calculations were enough to scare Napoleon away from the project, and plans for a canal stalled until 1847, when a team of researchers finally confirmed that there was no serious difference in altitude between the Mediterranean and Red Seas. ferdindand de lesseps 3. The British government was strongly opposed to its construction. Planning for the Suez Canal officially began in 1854, when a French former diplomat named Ferdinand de Lesseps negotiated an agreement with the Egyptian viceroy to form the Suez Canal Company. Since Lesseps’ proposed canal had the support of the French Emperor Napoleon III, many British statesmen considered its construction a political scheme designed to undermine their dominance of global shipping.

The British ambassador to France argued that supporting the canal would be a “suicidal act,” and when Lesseps tried to sell shares in the canal company, British papers labeled the project “a flagrant robbery gotten up to despoil the simple people.” Lesseps went on to engage in a public war of words with British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston, and even challenged railway engineer Robert Stephenson to a duel after he condemned the project in Parliament. The British Empire continued to criticize the canal during its construction, but it later bought a 44 percent stake in the waterway after the cash-strapped Egyptian government auctioned off its shares in 1875. 4. It was built using a combination of forced peasant labor and state-of-the-art machinery. Building the Suez Canal required massive manpower, and the Egyptian government initially supplied most of the labor by forcing the poor to work for nominal pay and under threat of violence. Beginning in late-1861, tens of thousands of peasants used picks and shovels to dig the early portions of the canal by hand. Progress was painfully slow, and the project hit a snag after Egyptian ruler Ismail Pasha abruptly banned the use of forced labor in 1863.

Faced with a critical shortage of workers, Lesseps and the Suez Canal Company changed their strategy and began using several hundred custom-made steam- and coal-powered shovels and dredgers to dig the canal. The new technology gave the project the boost it needed, and the company went on to make rapid progress during the last two years of construction. Of the 75 million cubic meters of sand eventually moved during the construction of the main canal, some three-fourths of it was handled by heavy machinery. 5. The Statue of Liberty was originally intended for the canal. As the Suez Canal neared completion in 1869, French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi tried to convince Ferdinand de Lesseps and the Egyptian government to let him build a sculpture called “Egypt Bringing Light to Asia” at its Mediterranean entrance. Inspired by the ancient Colossus of Rhodes, Bartholdi envisioned a 90-foot-tall statue of a woman clothed in Egyptian peasant robes and holding a massive torch, which would also serve as a lighthouse to guide ships into the canal.

The project never materialized, but Bartholdi continued shopping the idea for his statue, and in 1886 he finally unveiled a completed version in New York Harbor. Officially called “Liberty Enlightening the World,” the monument has since become better known as the Statue of Liberty. The opening of the Suez Canal on November 17, 1869 (Credit: The Print Collector/Getty Images) 6. Its creator later tried—and failed—to build the Panama Canal. Having silenced his critics by completing the Suez Canal, Ferdinand de Lesseps later turned his attention toward cutting a canal across the Isthmus of Panama in Central America. Work began in 1881, but despite Lesseps’ prediction that the new canal would be “easier to make, easier to complete, and easier to keep up” than the Suez, the project eventually descended into chaos. Thousands died during construction in the sweltering, disease-ridden jungle, and the team burned through nearly $260 million without ever completing the project.

The company finally went belly up in 1889, triggering a massive scandal that saw Lesseps and several others—including Eiffel Tower designer Gustave Eiffel, who had been hired to design canal locks—convicted of fraud and conspiracy. It would take another 25 years before the Panama Canal was finally completed in a decade-long, American-led construction project. 7. The canal played a crucial role in a Cold War-era crisis. In 1956, the Suez Canal was at the center of a brief war between Egypt and the combined forces of Britain, France and Israel. The conflict had its origins in Britain’s military occupation of the canal zone, which had continued even after Egypt gained independence in 1922. Many Egyptians resented the lingering colonial influence, and tensions finally boiled over in July 1956, when Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, supposedly to help fund a dam across the Nile River. In what became known as the Suez Crisis, a combined British, Israeli and French force launched an attack on Egypt in October 1956.

The Europeans succeeded in advancing close to the canal, but later withdrew from Egypt in disgrace following condemnation from the United States and the threat of nuclear retaliation from the Soviet Union. British Prime Minister Anthony Eden resigned in the wake of the scandal, and the Suez Canal was left under Egyptian control. Sunken ships during the 1956 Suez Canal Crisis (Credit: Fox Photos/Getty Images) 8. A fleet of ships was once stranded in the canal for more than eight years. During June 1967’s Six Day War between Egypt and Israel, the Suez Canal was shut down by the Egyptian government and blocked on either side by mines and scuttled ships. At the time of the closure, 15 international shipping vessels were moored at the canal’s midpoint at the Great Bitter Lake. They would remain stranded in the waterway for eight years, eventually earning the nickname the “Yellow Fleet” for the desert sands that caked their decks. Most of the crewmembers were rotated on and off the stranded vessels on 3-month assignments, but the rest passed the time by forming their own floating community and hosting sporting and social events. As the years passed, the fleet even developed its own stamps and internal system of trade.

The 15 marooned ships were finally allowed to leave the canal in 1975. By then, only two of the vessels were still seaworthy enough to make the voyage under their own power. 9. It’s about to get a major overhaul. The Suez Canal has enjoyed increased traffic in recent years, with roughly 50 ships passing through its waters every day. Shipping tolls allow Egypt to rake in around $5 billion annually, but the canal is still hampered by its narrow width and shallow depth, which are insufficient to accommodate two-way traffic from modern tanker ships. In August 2014, Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority announced an ambitious plan to deepen the canal and create a new 22-mile lane branching off the main channel. Preliminary work has already begun on the $8.5 billion project, which Egyptian authorities claim could more than double the canal’s annual revenue by 2023. Tags AFRICAN HISTORY TIMELINE: 19th century Egypt and East Africa AFRICAN HISTORY TIMELINE: 19th century Egypt and East Africa General Napoleon, invaded Egypt and captured Cairo.

August 1, 1798 Admiral Lord Nelson, destroyed French fleet off Alexandria. October 1799 General Napoleon, returned to France from Egypt. 1805-1849 Khedive Mehemet Ali, Albanian cavalry officer ruled Egypt. 1820s Khedive Mehemet Ali, invaded the Upper Nile Valley. 1821 Khedive Mehemet Ali, imported improved cotton varieties to Egypt. 1822-1832 Khedive Mehemet Ali, fought against Ottoman Empire. 1834 British establish steamship service to India via Suez. 1839-1841 Khedive Mehemet Ali, fought against Ottoman Empire. 1840s Khedive Abbas, grandson of Mehemet Ali, ruled Egypt. early 1850s Khedive Abbas, improved relations between Egypt and Ottoman Empire. 1854-1863 Khedive Said, son of Mehemet Ali, ruled Egypt after Abbas' assasination. 1858 Khedive Said, committed Egyptian government to buy 45% of Suez Canal.

April 1859 Work began on the Suez Canal. 1860-1865 U. S. Civil war creates demand for Egyptian cotton. 1860s Arab traders first reached Buganda. 1863-1869 Ferdinand de Lessups, French businessman, organized the Suez Canal construction. 1863-1879 king of Buganda converted (at least nominally) to Islam. November 17, 1869 Sultan of Zanzibar Bargash, agreed to end the slave trade in his domain. November 1875 Khedive Ismail, Egyptian government sold 176,000 Suez Canal shares to the British government. 1875-1876 Khedive Ismail, Egypt invaded Ethiopia without much success. 1876 H. M. Stanley, visited Buganda. April 4, 1876 Stephen Cave, British financial inspector of Egyptian finances.

1876 Nile River flood failed--food shortage in Egypt May 2, 1876 principle of dual control by France and Britain over Egyptian finances established 1877 Nile River flood failed--food shortage in Egypt 1877 Sir William Mackinnon, proposed that British assume administration of Zanzibari domain in the name of the Sultan 1877 Sultan of Zanzibar Bargash, communicated with Germans and refused British protectorate 1877 the first Anglican Church Missionary Society representatives arrived in Buganda August 15, 1878 England and France gain cabinet seats and control over Egyptian finances February 18, 1879 Khedive Ismail, replaced Europeans with Egyptians in his cabinet June 1879 Khedive Ismail was overthrown by the Egyptian army and replaced by Tewfik 1879 Catholic "White Fathers" arrived in Buganda 1879-1896 "Law of Liquidation" reorganized Egyptian finances to pay of external debt of about �100 million February 1, 1881 Pasha Arabi, a nationalist leader, entered Egyptian cabinet when Khedive

 Ismail appointed Mahmoud Pasha Sami, an Egyptian nationalist, as prime minister.

September 9, 1881 Pasha Arabi, led the Egyptian army in a mutiny against the Khedive. 1881 France invaded Tunisia, North Africa January 8, 1882 France and England signed a treaty--the "Joint Anglo-French note", but European diplomatic support for the agreement increased nationalist opposition to Khedive Tewfik.

February 25, 1882 Khedive Tewfik, was forced to appoint nationalists as prime minister and war minister April 12, 1882 monarchist military conspiracy exposed and the members arrested, France and Britain send small naval squadrons to Egyptian coast May 20, 1882 France and Britain sent small naval squadrons to Egyptian coast May 25, 1882 British and French ultimatum forced the nationalist government to resign June 11, 1882 Egyptians rioted and killed about 50 Europeans in Alexandria on Sunday July 11, 1882 British abolished dual control with France 1883-1885 France occupied Madagascar (East Africa) November 5, 1883 Mahdi, Egyptian army led by the British General Hicks was defeated at El Obeid (Sudan) 1884 Karl Peters, German explorer collected treaties in Lake Victoria region (East Africa) 1884 Kabaka Mutesa, died and replaced by Mwanga (East Africa) January 6, 1884 General Charles Gordon, went to Khartoum to evacuate the

 Egyptian garrison August 1884 A British army left Wadi Haifa to lift the siege of Khartoum November 15, 1884 Berlin Conference opened 1885 Kabaka Mwanga, ordered the death of Anglican missionary James Hanninton and executed 30 Catholic converts (East Africa) 1885 Mahdist revolt in Sudan prevented British withdrawal from Egypt January 26, 1885 General Charles Gordon, killed at Khartoum February 1885 Karl Peters, returned to Berlin (East Africa) February 1885 Opponents of imperialism began to openly challenge the prime minister in the British Parliament February 26, 1885 Germany annexed territory in Tanganyika (East Africa) June 21, 1885 General Kitchener, British reconquered Nile Valley from Mahdi November 1885 Germany Britain and France create boundary commission to divide sultan's domain 1886 Joseph Chamberlain, Conservative politician ends opposition to imperialism after visiting Egypt October 1886 France and Britain settled East African land claims (East Africa) May 1887 Britain and Ottoman sign treaty for

 British withdrawal from Egypt but Sultan backs away 1888 James Hutton, prominent Manchester merchant served on first IBEAC board of directors 1888 Sir William Mackinnon became the first director of the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) October 29, 1888 The Suez Canal Convention was signed by Turkey, Russia and various European powers.

This international agrement provided for the Suez Canal to remain open to all nations in both peace and war.

1890 Karl Peters, German explorer collected treaties around Lake Victoria (East Africa) 1890 France recognized British Protectorate over Zanzibar (East Africa) 1890 IBEAC nearly bankrupt from failed plantation schemes, 1890 Frederick Lord Lugard, arrived in Buganda to extend IBEAC influence (East Africa) 1890 Britain recognized French claims in Madagascar (East Africa) 1890 Anglo-German agreement recognized German Tanganyika (East Africa) March 18, 1890 Bismarck dismissed by Wilhelm II as German prime minister July 1, 1890 Anglo-German Colonial Agreement (aka "The Heligoland Treaty") recognized British claim in East Africa (East Africa) December 1890 Sir William Mackinnon, asked British government to help IBEAC construct railway to Buganda (East Africa) July 1891 British parliament refused to support Buganda railway scheme (East Africa) 1894 British declared a protectorate over Buganda (East Africa) 1898 Mahdi, death of Mahdi ended revolt in the Sudan 1902 J. A.

Hobson, published non-Marxist critique of imperialism 1904 Suez Canal The Suez Canal and the Passage of Zheng He’s fleet on its way to Italy in 1434 Dr. Stephen Davies, Museum Director, Hong Kong Maritime Museum Almost all scholars – except Mr Menzies and his team – agree that there was no connection between the Red and Mediterranean Seas in the 15th century. Remnants of a connection that may have been open in the early 12th century remained. But even that connection was shallow and relatively narrow. For even supposing it to have maintained the width of the 6th century BCE canal of Darius (sufficient for two triremes to row past each other), that would not entail a width of greater than 100’. One can see that from the dimensions of the reconstruction trireme, the Olympias, as recounted in J. S. Morrison, J. F. Coates, N. B. Rankov, The Athenian Trireme: The History and Reconstruction of an Ancient Greek Warship, 2nd ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, p.270 .

Each trireme with oars extended would have taken up about 12m of width. Two passing, allowing a close but generous shave, would have taken up 30m or 100’. That’s 50’ narrower than the 1869 Suez Canal and 80’ narrower than the beam of Zheng He’s treasure ships as propounded by Mr Menzies. The following drawing assumes, however, that miraculously in 1432 Arab engineers completed a canal that was as wide and deep as the one Ferdinand de Lesseps was to complete with more primitive western industrial technology 437 years later. De Lesseps’ 1869 Suez Canal (cross section in red) is shown below with a typical early-19th century wooden warship of the largest size in the middle and around it a cross section of putative Zheng He baochuan to the Ming Shih dimensions uncritically taken by Mr Menzies to be exact measurements. The canal as dug by de Lesseps in 1869 was 150’ wide at the top narrowing to 72’across the bottom and was 26’ deep.

Mr Menzies tells us that Zheng He’s largest vessels were ‘about 480’ in length…and 180’ across’ (1421, the year China discovered the world, London: Bantam, 2003, p. 65). It follows, one suggests a bit tentatively of course, that getting Zheng He’s ships from Suez to the River Nile would have been a bit of a challenge. In fact it must have been a phenomenal challenge because these ships were not just wide and probably drew about the same amount of water as a 19th century first rate ship of the line – compared to which, of course, they were immensely larger and immeasurably superior. They were also incomparably more massive. Indeed a fair comparison in volumetric terms of the baochuan favoured by Mr Menzies against other ships we know the size of shows that the Treasure Ship was vast. It was indeed a lot larger than one of the largest first rate line of battle ships built, the British HMS Victory which is show in corss section in the canal above with the baochuan .

It was a lot larger than one of the three largest sailing vessels ever known to have been built in the west, the Preussen. Indeed it was massively much larger, working out at two and three quarter times the size of the Preussen and six and a third times the size of the Victory. Think carefully about that for a minute or two. A neat way of envisaging that, in case you felt the Suez Canal drawing was a bit much to accept, is to use a simple ‘gift box’ image. Imagine that you have a simple rectangular box into which the hull of any vessel neatly fits. Just to show a variety, we’re not just going to use the baochuan, the Victory and the Preussen. We’re going to toss in four ‘gift boxes’ additional to the one for the Menzies and others baochuan.

Each would snugly contain the relevant vessel stripped of its rig, in terms of hull length (excluding bowsprit), beam, and moulded depth (including deckhouses, poop decks, etc) and we’re going to add a large 19th century junk of known dimensions, the Keying, and the pathetic little cockleshell in which Columbus crossed the Atlantic, according to Mr Menzies in 1434 thanks to Zheng He’s visit, the Santa Maria. I have drawn a sketch of the result in the diagram below. 1: ‘Gift box’ comparison of the sizes of the Treasure Ship and the Great Eastern Assume that 50’, close to the beam measurements of the Victory and Preussen, represents one gift-box-side unit. The Treasure Ship’s box will have the following dimensions: 7.98 units long, 3.26 units wide, 1.35 units high. It will be 35.12 cubic units in volume. The Victory’s box will be 3.9 units long, 1.04 units wide and 0.92 units high. It will contain 3.73 cubic units.

The Preussen’s box will be 8.15 units long, 1.07 units wide and 0.86 units high. It will contain 7.5 cubic units. The Keying’s box will be 3.2 units long, 0.66 units wide and 0.9 units high. It will contain 1.9 cubic units. It follows that in terms of visible bulk on the measures we have, the largest Ming Dynasty Treasure Ship to sail through the canal dug during the 11th century rule of Abu ‘Ali Mansur Tāriqu l-Ḥākim – apparently without telling him, since he is also said to have successfully ordered the canal to be closed! – and kept open throughout the turbulent three centures that followed, was nearly ten times the size of one of the largest wooden warships of the apogee of fighting sail in the west. It was three or four times the size of one of the largest sailing vessels the western world ever built and nearly twenty times larger than the only junk known to have made it to the North Atlantic.

And, as the diagram shows, the baochuan was nearly four hundred times the size of the cockleshell in which Christopher Columbus sailed to the Americas. Jolly impressive indeed – but maybe too much so to make it through any Suez Canal before the late 20th century. Why? Well, here’s another diagram. Too large to go through the first Suez Canal because it drew too much water – 30’ loaded – the Great Eastern was in its day a byword for what one would think of as a maritime behemoth, leviathan or absolute whopper. It was also, we need to note, six times larger than any ship then afloat when it was launched in 1858, eleven years before the modern Suez Canal opened. However in volumetric terms (i.e. the amount of space it took up), it was actually smaller than the baochuan in which Mr Menzies invites us to believe Zheng He set sail, voyaged up the Red Sea and sailed through a probably non-existent canal into the Mediterranean.

Let’s use our gift box idea again to show why: 2: The Treasure Ship and the Great Eastern compared Obviously the Great Eastern was a lot longer than the baochuan. But its beam was only half that of the baochuan at 82’. Though that was too wide for the bottom of the Suez Canal (the cross section of the Great Eastern was almost rectangular) which was only 72’ wide so accessible to the Great Eastern, at a squeak, only in ballast when it drew 20’ as opposed to a full load draft of 20’. Anyway, on Menzies’ measurements the Great Eastern, which only just fit the 1869 Suez Canal in ballast, was slightly over half the beam of the baochuan. So we can get a reasonable comparison of relative volume, as Diagram 2 shows, by halving the Great Eastern’s length and doubling its beam just to show how in terms of volume Brunel’s monster for its day – nothing larger was to be built until the RMS Celtic in 1901 – it actually occupies less space than the baochuan.

Indeed on our ‘gift box’ measure the Great Eastern was 27.8 cubic units compared to the Treasure Ship’s 35.12 units. In terms of pure ‘gift box’ volume that makes it 20% smaller than a Treasure Ship. Unless it was unloaded – and even then only very slowly with but inches to spare as the diagram shows – the Great Eastern couldn’t get through the technological wonder of a canal (but of course in Menziesesque terms primitive and derivative) dug by a zillion workers for M. de Lesseps that opened in 1869. The Great Eastern in ballast just fitting the 1869 canal, with the largest late 19th century baghlah for comparison So why on earth should we believe that a vessel 20% larger in volume and rather wider than M.

de Lesseps canal was, could have got through a canal which almost certainly didn’t exist, but which would have been designed for dhows, the largest of which ever claimed by anyone was not more than 150’ long (the baghlah, ghanjah and boum – see Ministry of Information & Culture, Sultanate of Oman, Oman, a seafaring nation, Muscat: Ministry of Information & Culture, 1979, pp.118, 123 & 12). There is absolutely no solid evidence that stands up to scrutiny that a large fleet of Chinese vessels visited Italy in the first half of the 15th century. No record mentions it – yet this was a time when any wonder was eagerly commented on and recorded. But let’s assume everyone was having a blind month, or that assiduous traducers of the record of the kind beloved by conspiracy theorists have subsequently – and unbelievably thoroughly – trashed the entire, Europe-wide record. That still leaves Mr Menzies’ theory with a very large problem. How the heck did the ships get to the Eastern Mediterranean via the Isthmus of Suez? Introduction . Panama Canal . American Experience .

WGBH | PBS Other Introductions On August 15th, 1914, the Panama Canal opened, connecting the world’s two largest oceans and signaling America’s emergence as a global superpower. American ingenuity and innovation had succeeded where, fifteen years earlier, the French had failed disastrously. But the U.S. paid a price for victory: a decade of ceaseless, grinding toil, an outlay of more than 350 million dollars -- the largest single federal expenditure in history to that time -- and the loss of more than 5,000 lives. Along the way, Central America witnessed the brazen overthrow of a sovereign government, the influx of over 55,000 workers from around the globe, the removal of hundreds of millions of tons of earth, and engineering innovation on an unprecedented scale. The construction of the Canal was the epitome of man’s mastery over nature and signaled the beginning of America’s domination of world affairs. The second half of the 19th century was a time of expansion and great technological advancement. Americans built the Brooklyn Bridge and completed the Transcontinental Railroad .

The French had constructed the Suez Canal in Egypt in 1869 and set their sights on a canal through the Panamanian Isthmus. But after eight years of earthquakes, floods and disease-stunted progress, the French returned home bankrupt. The canal project would lay abandoned for nearly 15 years. When President Theodore Roosevelt came to office in 1901, he saw the creation and control of the canal as the key to America projecting itself as a world power. "If we are to hold our own in the struggle for supremacy," Roosevelt insisted, "we must build the canal." With Roosevelt's backing, Panamanians claimed their independence from Colombia in 1903 after a bloodless revolution. The United States and Panama signed a treaty giving the U.S. sovereignty over the "Canal Zone," a 440 square mile area stretching across the isthmus. Over the next decade , engineers, politicians, and laborers involved in this epic undertaking faced incredible hardships: bureaucratic inefficiencies, wild terrain, extreme weather, outbreaks of yellow fever and malaria , and generally poor working conditions. Three different engineers would take on the project during its time. In 1904, John F.

Wallace came to the isthmus with an order from President Roosevelt to "make the dirt fly." When Wallace left Panama after only a year, he had accomplished little and left morale along the isthmus low. In July 1905, John Stevens took over as chief engineer. He first sought to rebuild the railroad -- a project that both organized the entire endeavor and allowed for the development of innovations that would prove crucial to the success of the canal's construction. By the time he was finished the railroad functioned as a giant conveyor belt for excavated spoil, shifting continuously to accommodate the work as it progressed. With the railroad system improved, Stevens concentrated on the Culebra Mountain, the highest point of the Isthmus. He quickly realized that digging a sea-level cut through the mountain while battling the formidable current of the Chagres River would be impossible. He supported a new plan with a system of locks, a massive dam to control the Chagres, and a giant artificial lake 85 feet above sea level. Implementing this plan exhausted Stevens, who resigned in February 1907. Colonel George Washington Goethals became the third and final chief engineer for the Panama Canal.

Goethals' stepped up the pace of production, refusing to negotiate with strikers and ordering labor to continue around the clock; at any given time, day or night, thousands of men were working in the canal. The rigorous production schedule yielded visible progress by 1911, improving worker morale. In May of 1913, steam shovels finally met at the middle of the Cut. Soon workers sealed the last spillway at Gatun dam, allowing the water of Gatun Lake to rise to its full height. After demolishing the dikes at either end of the canal, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans rushed inland, and the final stretch of the Culebra Cut was flooded. On August 15th, 1914, the Panama Canal was finally opened to the public. After more than a decade of struggle, successful completion of the Panama Canal established the U.S. as a global power in commerce and technology at the dawn of the 20th century.

Panama Canal features a fascinating cast of characters ranging from the indomitable Theodore Roosevelt, who saw the Canal as the embodiment of American might and ingenuity, to Colonel William Gorgas, an army doctor who instituted a revolutionary public health campaign that all but eradicated Yellow Fever, to the visionary engineers who solved the seemingly impossible problem of cutting a 50-mile long slice through mountains and jungle. The film also delves into the lives of the thousands of workers, rigidly segregated by race, who left their homes to sign on for an unprecedented adventure. In the Canal zone, skilled positions were reserved for white workers while a predominantly West Indian workforce did the backbreaking manual labor, cutting brush, digging ditches and loading and unloading equipment and supplies. Using an extraordinary archive of photographs and footage, rare interviews with canal workers, and firsthand accounts of life in the Canal zone, Panama Canal unravels the remarkable story of one of the world's most daring and significant technological achievements.

Question: In which century was the Suez Canal opened?
Answer: 19th