Suez Canal | The Oil Exchange The Oil Exchange Suez Canal History The Suez Canal is a man-made waterway created by the Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps using forced Egyptian labour between 1859-1869. The waterway was officially opened to international traffic on the 17th November 1869. The official cost of the Canal was estimated as $100 million. It has been estimated that over 1.5 million workers were used to create the Suez Canal during this period and over 100,000 workers died during its creation. Route The Suez Canal links the Mediterranean and Red seas together and provides a short route of transit between the East and West. It runs between the Port Said harbour (at the Mediterranean Sea) and the Gulf of Suez (at the Red Sea). The Canal has been constantly developed and improved since 1869 to accommodate larger tankers both in terms of Dead Weight Tonnage (DWT), length, width and draft. In 1869, the Canal was only 164km long but has constantly been lengthened and in 2010, total length is 193km.

At its narrowest point, the Canal is 300 metres wide. The Canal has no locks since the height of the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea are very similar, differing only by around 2 metres at the maximum, and so water is allowed to flow freely between the two seas. In 1869, there were no bypasses to allow two-way traffic, however several have been created along the distance of the route and the total bypass length as of 2010 is 80.5km. From North to South the bypasses are: 3 bypasses at the Port Said entrance, the Ballah bypass and anchorage site, the Timsah bypass at the Timsah lake and lastly the bypass just north of the Great Bitter lake. These bypasses act as both passages and anchorage sites and allow the safe transition of convoys through the Suez Canal, avoiding any major accidents. The Ballah bypass has smaller dimensions than the main shipping route and so any convoy that uses the bypass for anchorage or passage will usually contain smaller and often unloaded vessels. The Great Bitter Lake is used for passage and as a waiting area for all convoy sizes as it is much more capable of handling larger tankers.

Capacity At its beginning, the Canal was unable to accommodate any tankers whose DWT exceeded 5000 tonnes, but over time, as the Canal has developed with increased width and depth, it is now able to occupy tankers whose DWT is up to 240,000 tonnes. These vessels are known as SuezMax tankers. A SuezMax is the largest tanker with a full cargo that can pass through the Suez Canal. The maximum DWT of a SuezMax changes with the development of the Canal and is dictated by the Suez Canal Authority, but it is limited by a few key factors. Given that the Canal has no locks, the only limiting factors of the Canal are the draft (the maximum depth of water below a tanker’s plimsoll line) and the height of the Suez Canal Bridge (also known as the Shohada 25 January Bridge) and not the beam (width of the tanker). Since the height of the bridge is unchangeable at 70 metres above the waterline, the only way to increase maximum tonnage of the SuezMax is to increase the depth of the Canal.

Currently, the Suez Canal allows passage of tankers with a draft of up to 20 metres or 240,000 DWT, and a maximum height of 68 metres above the waterline. The maximum beam that a tanker is able to possess is 77.5 metres. As a result of these restricting conditions, some fully laden supertankers cannot transit with a full cargo and must partially unload their cargo onto another tanker or into a pipeline before passing through the Canal. The Canal is not wide enough to allow two-way traffic and so tankers travel in convoys and use bypasses in order to avoid collision and optimise traffic flow. Navigation and Convoy Sailing The Canal has one main shipping lane suitable for only one convoy to pass at a time. Along the route there are many bypasses whereby convoys coming the opposite way are able to set anchor and wait for the convoy to pass before continuing their journey through the Canal. It has always been the case that on any day, three convoys are able to transit the Canal, with two going from North to South (NS) and one going from South to North (SN) and the entire process takes between 12-16 hours.

On each day, one convoy starts on its journey from the Gulf of Suez in the south at 0600hrs, its travels northbound. This convoy is given an unhindered passage along the main shipping route; its journey is unhindered and so this convoy keeps moving until it reaches the Port Said harbour. Six hours earlier, at 0000hrs, one convoy starts from the Port Said harbour and travels southbound, anchoring in the Great Bitter lake to let the northbound convoy pass. The second southbound convoy leaves Port Said harbour one hour after the first, at 0700hrs, and anchors in the Ballah bypass to let the northbound convoy pass. The second convoy travelling southbound, which anchors in the Ballah bypass will usually contain smaller and often partially or fully unloaded ships. This is because the Ballah bypass is unable to accommodate large tankers because of its dimensions; it is not as deep as the main shipping route. The convoys travel at low speeds to prevent the erosion of the Canal walls by the waves created when tankers move through the water.

Share this: Suez Canal, Egypt | Building the World Building the World Entrance to Port Said on the Suez Canal circa 1856, from Library of Congress, at loc.gov. WHY EGYPT? The Middle East is one of the most important regions in the world. Land of the ancient pyramids, home of the mighty Nile, Egypt’s Suez Canal transformed shipping as far away as Singapore . Egypt is critical to the future of the region and the world, and so is the Suez Canal. PHARAOH’S DREAM OR CALIPH’S NIGHTMARE? The waterway, perhaps initiated by the legendary Pharaoh Sesostris, was navigated by Egyptians during Seti I in 1380 B.C. The ancient channel – still visible in areas near Wadi Tumilat and actually used by constructors of the Suez Canal – did not connect all the way to the Red Sea; at the time of Darius, 520 B.C., ships entering from the Mediterranean traversed the Pelusiac section of the Nile to Bubastis, where they continued to Heropolis.

But there was a break at that point; all cargo had to be reloaded onto ships on the Red Sea. It was good business for transfer specialists but not for shippers. In 385 B.C., Ptolemy Philadelphus finally connected the canal to the Red Sea, building a new town called Arsinoe at the juncture. But the waterway proved only too strategic and was ordered closed in 770 A.D. by the Caliph al-Mansur, founder of Baghdad , to cut off the supply route being used by his enemies. CHILDHOOD FRIENDSHIP Ferdinand de Lesseps, from bbc.co.uk. If war closed the earlier canal, diplomacy and friendship eventually opened it to the world. It’s the story of two boys who played together. One, Ferdinand de Lesseps, was the son of a French diplomat; the other, scion of the Pasha of Egypt. The children often breakfasted together because the Pasha’s son very much liked the cereal served at the French household. The boys were fast friends and continued to keep in touch as they grew. Many years later, the French boy, now a retired diplomat, returned to Cairo to visit his boyhood home.

His childhood chum, now a 300-pound man, had succeeded his father, the late viceroy of Egypt, Mohammed Ali Pasha. Incidentally, it was Mohammed Ali Pasha who had granted a French group, the Saint-Simonians, permission to explore and survey a canal route across Egypt via the Isthmus of Suez. It was never built. Did the new ruler, Mohammed Pasha al-Said, remember? (A similar father-son legacy led to the building of Solomon’s Temple .) HORSEMANSHIP – LEAP OF FAITH What was more natural than for two old friends to go on a weekend trip to the countryside? To entertain his visiting boyhood playmate, the Pasha, now Khedive and Viceroy of Egypt, gathered a group of friends to form an expedition. The hunting party pitched tents the first night by a high wall to protect themselves from strong winds. Perhaps campfire conversations turned to boyish boasting and dares. At some point in the encampment, Ferdinand de Lesseps jumped his horse over the wall. No one else in the Pasha’s retinue dared attempt such a feat.

Pasha Al-Said was so pleased that he offered Ferdinand a boon, anything in his power to grant. The request? Permission to build the Suez Canal. MONEY Ferdinand de Lesseps raised funds everywhere he could. He even sought money directly from the French people, bypassing and refusing the offer of Rothschild, the head of an investment banking establishment, who charged what de Lesseps felt was too great an interest charge. Instead, Ferdinand used persuasion and attraction to open shares in the Suez Canal to ordinary citizens. When the first public offering opened on November 5, 1858, more than 400,000 shares were sold at 500 francs per share. Rothschild never forgot the slight. He got his chance for revenge eventually. By 1875, the Khedive of Egypt found himself short of funds and made it known he would sell 177,000 shares to pay his debts. Rothschild’s firm sent a private note to Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli offering a deal. Rothschild knew the Disraeli favored expansion of the British Empire in the Middle East.

In spite of the objections of his own cabinet and without Parliament’s consent, the British Prime Minister agreed to a short-term loan from Lionel de Rothschild in order to purchase 44% of the shares of the Suez Canal Company. Then Disraeli waited for parliament to sanction his “audacious stroke.” (Building the World, p. 193) Nasser, from Time Magazine. Funds continued to be an issue even in 1952. At that time, it was Egyptian President Nasser who looked for funds for improvement of the canal. He approached the United Nations, the World Bank, and several nations. But money was tight. So, Nasser extended his outreach and cut arms deals with some countries including then-communist Czechoslovakia. The U. S. Department of State withdrew American funds. Nasser retaliated by nationalizing the canal on July 26, 1959. Through the negotiating efforts of Jean-Paul Calon, general counsel of the Suez Canal Company, the World Bank compensated owners. Initially established as a privately-owned enterprise, with executive offices located in Paris, the Suez Canal offered a new formula for infrastructure development.

A similar financing approach was taken by the Channel Tunnel many years later. HUMAN RESOURCES AND INNOVATION Labor demands, and dangers, had been a challenge since ancient days. Classic historian Herodotus notes that over 100,000 people died in an effort to build an version of the canal in 609 B.C. Employment in 1856 A.D. was also difficult. The contract stipulated that 4/5ths of the jobs had to go to Egyptians. Turks were the next-most represented. France also sent workers. It must be admitted that forced labor was involved in ancient versions of the waterway but when Pasha al-Said succeeded to the throne in 1863, he declared forced labor to be against the values of the country. It is to be noted that when forced labor is the source, the oldest and most primitive methods of construction are often remain the means. But when labor is in short supply, innovations occur. Such was the case with the Suez Canal. As soon as workers became scarce after forced labor was abolished, innovative new engineering methods and machinery were developed, accelerating progress, and safety, of construction.

Much of the dredging equipment was developed in France, and the contract provided that needed equipment would be imported free of tax. AIDA The opening of the Canal, November 1868, was celebrated by Egypt as a cultural as well as economic event. The Khedive built a new opera house in Cairo for the occasion and commissioned Guiseppe Verdi to write a new opera with an Egyptian theme. Verdi’s collaborator on Don Carlos came to the composer with a scenario sketched by a French Egyptologist, Auguste Mariette. The story would become the opera, Aida. Verdi’s wife, Guiseppina, helped write the romance of the plot. Libretto was by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Ironically, the great new opera did not premier in Cairo as planned. Scenery and costumes designed and crafted in Paris could not be shipped two months before the January 1871 planned debut. The reason? The Franco-Prussian War. When Aida was finally performed in Cairo on December 24, 1872, rave reviews and the honor of the Commendatore of the Ottoman Order were given to Verdi.

The opera has since become a classic, even leading to a version written by Sir Elton John. PEACE Perhaps because it was a result of a trusted friendship, the firman or contract for the Suez Canal mandated the waterway be open on equal terms to ships of all nations. The principle of open access was legalized by the International Convention of Constantinople of 1888 but not signed by Britain until 1904. On several occasions, however, the canal was partially or fully blocked for military or political reasons. Document of Authorization November 30, 1854 Granted by the Khedive Mohammed Pasha al-Said to Ferdinand de Lesseps. Our friend Mons.

Ferdinand de Lesseps, having called our attention to the advantages which would result to Egypt from the function of the Mediterranean and the Red Seas, by a navigable passage for large vessels, and having given us to understand the possibility of forming a company for this purpose composed of capitalists of all nations; we have accepted the arrangements which he has submitted to us, and by these presents grant him exclusive power for the establishment and direction of a Universal Company, for cutting through the Isthmus of Suez, with authority to undertake or cause to be undertaken all the necessary works and erections, on condition that the Company shall previously indemnify all private persons in case of dispossession for the public benefit…the term of the grant is ninety-nine years, commencing from the day of the opening of the Canal of the two Seas…all necessary land not belonging to private persons shall be granted to it free of cost…The tariffs of dues for the passage shall be always equal for all nations…the Grand Maritime Canal from Suez to Pelusium and the ports appertaining thereto, shall always remain open without any distinction, exclusion, or preference of persons or nationalities. – From Hugh J.

Schonfield, The Suez Canal in Peace and War: 1869-1969. Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami Press, 1969. Pp. 174-44. See also Davidson and Lusk Brooke, Building the World (2006), Vol. I, pp. 196-204. VOICES OF THE FUTURE: Discussion and Implications Infrastructure and Peace: The Suez Canal was born of a friendship, envisioned by a diplomat, chartered by a group, and mandated forever open to all nations on equal basis. How does Suez compare to other key access routes around the world? Appeals Process and the Legal System: Article XII states “Egyptian Government will deliver to the Company all lands the property of private individuals subject to the payment of just compensation. In the case of disagreement, terms shall be fixed by a court of arbitration composed of: 1st, an arbitrator chosen by the Company; 2nd, an arbitrator chosen by the interested parties; 3rd, an arbitrator appointed by us.

The decisions of the court shall be executed without further process and subject to no appeal.” Legal systems are often clogged in lengthy appeals. How does the appeals process slow down dispute resolution? In the United States? In multi-country endeavors? RESOURCES To read the complete chapter, members of the University of Massachusetts Boston may access the e-book through Healey Library Catalog and ABC-CLIO here. Alternatively the volumes can be accessed at WorldCat , or at Amazon for purchase. Further resources are available onsite at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Healey Library , including some of the following: (* indicates printed in Notebook series) Adams, Michael. Suez and After: Year of Crisis. Boston: Beacon Press, 1958. Baker, A.J. Suez: The Seven Day War. New York: Praeger, 1965. Banaja, A.A. Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Suez Canal: A Bibliography on Oceanographic and Marine Environmental Research. Edited by Selim A. Morcos and Allen Varley. Compiled by A.A. Banaja, A.L. Beltagy, and M. A. Zahran, with scientific contributions by M. Kh. Ed-Sayed.

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Paris: Alexco-Persga and UNESCO, 1990. Beaufre, Andre. The Suez Expedition. 1956. Reprint, New York: Praeger, 1969. Bowie, Robert Richardson. Suez. 1956. Reprint, London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1974. De Lesseps, Ferdinand. Recollections of Forty Years. Translated by C.B. Pitman. 2 vols. London: Chapman and Hall, 1974. Encyclopedia Brittanica. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1948. See article on “Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of (1804-1881),” p. 246. Karabell, Zachary. Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal. New York: Vantage, 2004. Kunz, Diane B. The Economic Diplomacy of the Suez Crisis. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991. Lloyd, Selwyn, Lord.

Suez 1956: A Personal Account. New York: Mayflower Books, 1978. Mutting, Anthony. No End of a Lesson: The Story of the Suez. New York: C.N. Potter, 1967. Robertson, Terence. Crisis: The Inside Story of the Suez Conspiracy. New York: Atheneum, 1965. Schonfield, Hugh Joseph. The Suez Canal in Peace and War, 1869-1969. Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami Press, 1969. Tesson, Thierry. Ferdinand de Lesseps. Paris: J.-C. Lattes, 1992. U.S. Department of State. The Suez Canal Problem, July 26-September 22, 1956: A Documentary Publication. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State, 1 Internet For the Aida’s commission and creation, see: aida.htm . For Benjamin Disraeli’s speech on the acquisition of the Suez Canal shares, Feb.

21, 1876, see: . For a select bibliography on the Suez Crisis from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Texas, see: How does Suez compare to Erie? For the United States National Canal Museum, see: . For the Collaborative Institute for Oceans, Climate, and Security (CIOCS,) see: . Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License . Leave a Reply Long History Of Canals In Egypt Linking Europe And Long History of Canals in Egypt Linking Europe and Asia Posted by Eric Haun August 5, 2014 Egypt said on Tuesday it plans to build a new Suez Canal alongside the existing 145-year-old historic waterway in a multi-billion dollar project aimed at expanding trade along the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia. Here is a brief history: The first canal connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas via the Nile River was dug in 1874 B.C. during the reign of the Egyptian pharaoh Senausret III.

It was abandoned and reopened several times over the subsequent 2,500 years. Pharonic inscriptions showed that Egyptians used the canals to move warships, send pilgrimages to the Holy Land and transport grain and stones used in ancient monuments. Napoleon sought to build a modern canal in order to undermine Britain's control of trading routes to Asia, but he abandoned the project after engineers wrongly determined that a difference in water levels would cause the Mediterranean to be inundated. French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps and Egyptian viceroy Said Pasha developed the current Suez Canal in the mid-19th century. French and Egyptian private interests controlled the company entrusted with building and running the canal, though Britain later acquired Egypt's share. Completion of the 163-kilometre (101 mile) waterway took 10 years of intense and generally poorly-paid work by Egyptians who were drafted at the rate of 20,000 every 10 months from "the peasantry." The canal, which was opened for navigation on Nov. 17, 1869, cut weeks if not months off journeys between Europe and Asia that otherwise necessitated a trip around Africa.

Numerous heads of state visited Egypt for weeks of celebrations. In 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the canal, leading to a failed invasion by Britain, which controlled the channel, as well as France and Israel. The waterway was closed briefly until 1957 and the again for eight years following the 1967 war with Israel. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced on Tuesday that Egypt would build a new channel as part of a larger project to expand port and shipping facilities around the canal in an effort to establish Egypt as a major trade hub. Primary Source: Suez Canal Authority canals and inland waterways - The Suez Canal | waterway | Britannica.com transportation The Isthmus of Suez so obviously provided a short sea route from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean and beyond as against the sea voyage around Africa that a canal was dug in antiquity; it fell into disuse, was frequently restored, and finally was blocked about the 8th century.

Later there were many projects and surveys, but nothing happened until 1854, when Ferdinand de Lesseps , who had served as a diplomat for France in Egypt , persuaded Saʿīd Pasha , the viceroy of Egypt, to grant a preliminary concession for construction of a new canal across the isthmus. A later report recommended a sea-level lockless canal between Suez and the Gulf of Pelusium; and the original concession was superseded by one granted in 1856 to the Suez Canal Company , an international consortium . The concession was to last for 99 years from the canal’s opening to navigation, after which it was to revert to the Egyptian government; the canal was to be an international waterway, open at all times to all ships without discrimination . In addition to the ship canal, the company undertook to excavate a freshwater canal from the Nile at Bûlâq to Ismailia, with a branch extending to the Suez, to be available for smaller ships. Work on the ship canal lasted 10 years, during which time political, financial, contractual, and physical difficulties were overcome, and the canal was opened on November 17, 1869.

As ultimately constructed, it was a 105-mile lockless waterway connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. From its northern terminal at Port Said , the canal passes through the salt marsh area of Lake Manzala, with the freshwater canal running parallel. About 30 miles from Port Said, a seven-mile bypass built between 1949 and 1951 enables convoys to pass. At about the halfway point the canal enters Lake Timsah and passes Ismailia. Thence the waterway proceeds through the Bitter Lakes and on to Port Tawfīq, the southern terminal on the Red Sea , a few miles from the town of Suez. Since its construction, the canal has been constantly improved; originally 200 feet wide with a maximum depth of 24 feet, it was widened in 1954 to 500 feet at water level and 196 feet at a depth of 33 feet, with the main channel 45 feet deep, enabling ships of a maximum draft of 37 feet to navigate the canal. Cargo ship in the Suez Canal near Ismailia, Egypt.

Hubertus Kauns/SuperStock The canal remained open despite much political controversy. Nationalized by Egypt in 1956, it was blocked in 1967 after the Arab-Israeli War and remained so until 1975. The Panama Canal After his success with the Suez Canal, de Lesseps was attracted to the Isthmus of Panama , where many projects had been suggested for cutting a canal to join the Atlantic and Pacific ocean s and thus make unnecessary the passage around South America . De Lesseps proposed a sea-level route via Lake Nicaragua , but construction difficulties forced him to abandon this project in favour of a high-level lock canal via Panama. Further problems, especially yellow fever among the work force, halted construction after about 78,000,000 cubic yards (60,000,000 cubic metres) of material had been excavated. Meanwhile, U.S. interest had been actively maintained, but the situation was complicated by political difficulties and questions of sovereignty . A treaty between Britain and the United States recognized the exclusive U.S.

right to construct, regulate, and manage a canal across the isthmus; but Panama was Colombian territory, and the Colombia Senate refused ratification of a treaty with the United States . After a revolt, a treaty was signed with independent Panama that granted the United States exclusive use, occupation, and control of the Canal Zone in perpetuity. The Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal. Stan Shebs Strange Geographical Features: Fact or Fiction? Although preliminary work started in 1904, little real progress was made because of disputes over the type of canal that should be built; not until 1906 was the high-level lock plan finally adopted, as opposed to the previously favoured sea-level plan. Largely responsible for this decision was John F. Stevens , who became chief engineer and architect of the canal. Completed in 1914, the canal is 51.2 miles long. At its start from the large harbour area in Limon Bay on the Caribbean Sea , it rises more than 80 feet above sea level to the Gatun Lake through the Gatun Locks and is retained at the north by these locks and dam and at the south by the Pedro Miguel Locks and Dam.

The waterway then runs through the Gaillard Cut , which channels it through the Continental Divide , then between the Pedro Miguel Locks and the Miraflores Lake at an elevation of 54 feet, ships to the Pacific Ocean being lowered by them to the Balboa Harbor entrance. The Gatun Lake, with its area of 166 square miles, is an integral part of the waterway and the principal source of its water. The minimum channel depth throughout the length of the canal is 37 feet and its width 300 feet. There are 23 angles or changes of direction between the entrances. Ships normally travel through the canal under their own power except in the locks, through which they are towed by electric locomotives. 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 Ferdinand de Lesseps Ferdinand de Lesseps Location of death: La Chenaie, France Cause of death: unspecified Nationality: France Executive summary: Built the Suez Canal French diplomat and maker of the Suez Canal, born at Versailles on the 19th of November 1805. The origin of his family has been traced back as far as the end of the 14th century. His ancestors, it is believed, came from Scotland, and settled at Bayonne when that region was occupied by the English.

One of his great-grandfathers was town clerk and at the same time secretary to Queen Anne of Neuberg, widow of Charles II of Spain, exiled to Bayonne after the accession of Philip V. From the middle of the 18th century the ancestors of Ferdinand de Lesseps followed the diplomatic career, and he himself occupied with real distinction several posts in the same calling from 1825 to 1849. His uncle was ennobled by King Louis XVI , and his father was made a count by Napoleon Bonaparte . His father, Mathieu de Lesseps (1774-1832), was in the consular service; his mother, Catherine de Griv�gn�e, was Spanish, and aunt of the countess of Montijo, mother of the empress Eug�nie. His first years were spent in Italy, where his father was occupied with his consular duties. He was educated at the College of Henry IV in Paris. From the age of 18 years to 20 he was employed in the commissary department of the army.

From 1825 to 1827 he acted as assistant vice-consul at Lisbon, where his uncle, Barth�lemy de Lesseps, was the French charg� d'affaires. This uncle was an old companion of La P�rouse and a survivor of the expedition in which that navigator perished. In 1828 Ferdinand was sent as an assistant vice-consul to Tunis, where his father was consul-general. He courageously aided the escape of Youssouff, pursued by the soldiers of the bey, of whom he was one of the officers, for violation of the seraglio law. Youssouff acknowledged this protection given by a Frenchman by distinguishing himself in the ranks of the French army at the time of the conquest of Algeria. Ferdinand de Lesseps was also entrusted by his father with missions to Marshal Count Clausel, general-in-chief of the army of occupation in Algeria.

The marshal wrote to Mathieu de Lesseps on the 18th of December 1830: "I have had the pleasure of meeting your son, who gives promise of sustaining with great credit the name he bears." In 1832 Ferdinand de Lesseps was appointed vice-consul at Alexandria. To the placing in quarantine of the vessel which took him to Egypt is due the origin of his great conception of a canal across the isthmus of Suez. In order to help him to while away the time at the lazaretto, M. Mimaut, consul-general of France at Alexandria, sent him several books, among which was the memoir written upon the Suez Canal, according to Bonaparte's instructions, by the civil engineer Lap�re, one of the scientific members of the French expedition. This work struck de Lesseps's imagination, and gave him the idea of piercing the African isthmus. This idea, moreover, was conceived in circumstances that were to prepare the way for its realization.

Mehemet Ali, who was the viceroy of Egypt, owed his position, to a certain extent, to the recommendations made in his behalf to the French government by Mathieu de Lesseps, who was consul-general in Egypt when Mehemet Ali was a simple colonel. The viceroy therefore welcomed Ferdinand affectionately, while Said Pacha, Mehemet's son, began those friendly relations that he did not forget later, when he gave him the concession for making the Suez Canal. In 1833 Ferdinand de Lesseps was sent as consul to Cairo, and soon afterwards given the management of the consulate-general at Alexandria, a post that he held until 1837. While he was there a terrible epidemic of the plague broke out and lasted for two years, carrying off more than a third of the inhabitants of Cairo and Alexandria. During this time he went from one city to the other, according as the danger was more pressing, and constantly displayed an admirable zeal and an imperturbable energy.

Towards the close of the year 1837 he returned to France, and on the 21st of December married Agathe Delamalle, daughter of the government prosecuting attorney at the court of Angers. By this marriage de Lesseps became the father of five sons. In 1839 he was appointed consul at Rotterdam, and in the following year transferred to Malaga, the place of origin of his mother's family. In 1842 he was sent to Barcelona, and soon afterwards promoted to the grade of consul-general. In the course of a bloody insurrection in Catalonia, which ended in the bombardment of Barcelona, Ferdinand de Lesseps showed the most persistent bravery, rescuing from death, without distinction, the men belonging to the rival factions, and protecting and sending away not only the Frenchmen who were in danger, but foreigners of all nationalities. From 1848 to 1849 he was minister of France at Madrid. In the latter year the government of the French Republic confided to him a mission to Rome at the moment when it was a question whether the expelled pope would return to the Vatican with or without bloodshed.

Following his interpretation of the instructions he had received, de Lesseps began negotiations with the existing government at Rome, according to which Pope Pius IX should peacefully re-enter the Vatican and the independence of the Romans be assured at the same time. But while he was negotiating, the elections in France had caused a change in the foreign policy of the government. His course was disapproved; he was recalled and brought before the council of state, which blamed his conduct without giving him a chance to justify himself. Rome, attacked by the French army, was taken by assault after a month's sanguinary siege. De Lesseps then retired from the diplomatic service, and never afterwards occupied any public office. In 1853 he lost his wife and daughter at a few days' interval. Perhaps his energy would not have been sufficient to sustain him against these repeated blows of destiny if, in 1854, the accession to the viceroyalty of Egypt of his old friend, Said Pacha, had not given a new impulse to the ideas that had haunted him for the last twenty-two years concerning the Suez Canal.

Said Pacha invited de Lesseps to pay him a visit, and on the 7th of November 1854 he landed at Alexandria; on the 30th of the same month Said Pacha signed the concession authorizing de Lesseps to pierce the isthmus of Suez. A first scheme, indicated by him, was immediately drawn out by two French engineers who were in the Egyptian service, Linant Bey and Mougel Bey. This project, differing from others that had been previously presented or that were in opposition to it, provided for a direct communication between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. After being slightly modified, the plan was adopted in 1856 by an international commission of civil engineers to which it had been submitted. Encouraged by this approval, de Lesseps no longer allowed anything to stop him. He listened to no adverse criticism and receded before no obstacle.

Neither the opposition of Lord Palmerston , who considered the projected disturbance as too radical not to endanger the commercial position of Great Britain, nor the opinions entertained, in France as well as in England, that the sea in front of Port Said was full of mud which would obstruct the entrance to the canal, that the sands from the desert would fill the trenches -- no adverse argument, in a word, could dishearten Ferdinand de Lesseps. His faith made him believe that his adversaries were in the wrong; but how great must have been this faith, which permitted him to undertake the work at a time when mechanical appliances for the execution of such an undertaking did not exist, and when for the utilization of the proposed canal there was as yet no steam mercantile marine. Impelled by his convictions and talent, supported by the emperor Napoleon III and the empress Eug�nie, he succeeded in rousing the patriotism of the French and obtaining by their subscriptions more than half of the capital of two hundred millions of francs which he needed in order to form a company. The Egyptian government subscribed for eighty millions' worth of shares. The company was organized at the end of 1858.

On the 25th of April 1859 the first blow of the pickaxe was given by Lesseps at Port Said, and on the 17th of November 1869 the canal was officially opened by the Khedive, Ismail Pacha. While in the interests of his canal Lesseps had resisted the opposition of British diplomacy to an enterprise which threatened to give to France control of the shortest route to India, he acted loyally towards Great Britain after Lord Beaconsfield had acquired the Suez shares belonging to the Khedive, by frankly admitting to the board of directors of the company three representatives of the British government. The consolidation of interests which resulted, and which has been developed by the addition in 1884 of seven other British directors, chosen from among shipping merchants and business men, has augmented, for the benefit of all concerned, the commercial character of the enterprise. Ferdinand de Lesseps steadily endeavored to keep out of politics.

If in 1869 he appeared to deviate from this principle by being a candidate at Marseilles for the Corps L�gislatif, it was because he yielded to the entreaties of the Imperial government in order to strengthen its goodwill for the Suez Canal. Once this goodwill had been shown, he bore no malice towards those who rendered him his liberty by preferring his opponent L�on Gambetta . He afterwards declined the other candidatures that were offered him: for the Senate in 1876, and for the Chamber in 1877. In 1873 he became interested in a project for uniting Europe and Asia by a railway to Bombay, with a branch to Peking. He subsequently encouraged Major Roudaire, who wished to transform the Sahara desert into an inland sea. The king of the Belgians having formed an International African Society, de Lesseps accepted the presidency of the French committee, facilitated de Brazza's explorations, and acquired stations that he subsequently abandoned to the French government. These stations were the starting point of French Congo.

In 1879 a congress assembled in the rooms of the Geographical Society at Paris, under the presidency of Admiral de la Ronci�re le Noury, and voted in favor of the making of the Panama Canal. Public opinion, it may be declared, designated Ferdinand de Lesseps as the head of the enterprise. It was upon that occasion that Gambetta bestowed upon him the title of Le Grand Fran�ais. He was not a man to shirk responsibility, and notwithstanding that he had reached the age of 74, he undertook to carry out the Panama Canal project. Politics, which de Lesseps had always avoided, was his greatest enemy in this matter. The winding-up of the Panama Company having been declared in the month of December 1888, the adversaries of the French Republic, seeking for a scandal that would imperil the government, hoped to bring about the prosecution of the directors of the Panama Company. Their attacks were so vigorously made that the government was obliged, in self-defense, to have judicial proceedings taken against Ferdinand de Lesseps, his son Charles (b. 1849) and his co-workers Fontane and Cottu.

Charles de Lesseps, a victim offered to the fury of the politicians, tried to divert the storm upon his head and prevent it from reaching his father. He managed to draw down upon himself alone the burden of the condemnations pronounced. One of the consequences of the persecutions of which he was the object was to oblige him to spend three years, from 1896 to 1899, in England, where his participation in the management of the Suez Canal had won for him some strong friendships, and where he was able to see the great respect in which the memory and name of his father were held by Englishmen. Ferdinand de Lesseps died at La Chenaie on the 7th of December 1894. He had contracted a second marriage in 1869 with Mlle. Autard de Bragard, daughter of a former magistrate of Mauritius; and eleven out of twelve children of this marriage survived him. De Lesseps was a member of the French Academy, of the Academy of Sciences, of numerous scientific societies, Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor and of the Star of India, and had received the freedom of the City of London.

According to some accounts he was unconscious of the disastrous events that took place during the closing months of his life. Others report that, feeling himself powerless to scatter the gathered clouds, and aware of his physical feebleness, he had had the moral courage to pass in the eyes of his family, which he did not wish to afflict, as the dupe of the efforts they employed to conceal the truth from him. This last version would not be surprising if we relied upon the following portrait, sketched by a person who knew him intimately: "Simple in his tastes, never thinking of himself, constantly preoccupied about others, supremely kind, he did not and would not recognize such a thing as evil. Of a confiding nature, he was inclined to judge others by himself. This naturally affectionate abandonment that every one felt in him had procured him profound attachments and rare devotions. He showed, while making the Suez Canal, what a gift he possessed for levying the pacific armies he conducted. He set duty above everything, had in the highest degree a reverence for honor, and placed his indomitable courage at the service of everything that was beneficial with an abnegation that nothing could tire.

His marvellous physical and moral equilibrium gave him an evenness of temper which always rendered his society charming. Whatever his cares, his work or his troubles, I have never noticed in him aught but generous impulses and a love of humanity carried even to those heroic imprudences of which they alone are capable who devote themselves to the amelioration of humanity." No doubt this eulogy requires some reservations. The striking and universal success which crowned his work on the Suez Canal gave him an absoluteness of thought which brooked no contradiction, a despotic temper before which every one must bow, and against which, when he had once taken a resolution, nothing could prevail, not even the most authoritative opposition or the most legitimate entreaties. He had resolved to construct the Panama Canal without locks, to make it an uninterrupted navigable way. All attempts to dissuade him from this resolution failed before his tenacious will. At his advanced age he went with his youngest child to Panama to see with his own eyes the field of his new enterprise. He there beheld the Culebra and the Chagres; he saw the mountain and the stream, those two greatest obstacles of nature that sought to bar his route.

He paid no heed to them, but began the struggle against the Culebra and the Chagres. It was against them that was broken his invincible will, sweeping away in the defeat the work of Panama, his own fortune, his fame and almost an atom of his honor. But this atom, only grazed by calumny, has already been restored to him by posterity, for he died poor, having been the first to suffer by the disaster to his illusions. Political agitators, in order to sap the power of the Opportunist party, did not hesitate to drag in the mud one of the greatest citizens of France. But when the Panama "scandal" has been forgotten, for centuries to come the traveller in saluting the statue of Ferdinand de Lesseps at the entrance of the Suez Canal will pay homage to one of the most powerful embodiments of the creative genius of the 19th century. Father: Mathieu de Lesseps (b. 1774, d. 1832) Mother: Catherine de Grivgne Wife: Mlle Agathe Delamalle (m. 21-Dec-1837) Son: Charles (b.

1849) LESSEPS, Ferdinand de - napoleon.org LESSEPS, Ferdinand de facebook Creator of the Suez Canal. Born in Versailles, into a family raised to the nobility in 1777, son of Mathieu de Lesseps, French Consul, and nephew of Barthélemy de Lesseps, one of the members of the La Pérouse expedition and subsequently French Consul General in St Petersburg during the First Empire. Ferdinand, who was schooled at the Collège Henri-IV and then studied law, took up a career in the diplomatic service in his turn. He was made Vice-Consul in Alexandria in 1832 and Consul in Cairo the following year. During this first period of residence in Egypt, Ferdinand de Lesseps read the Description of Egypt by the engineer Le Père, who had accompanied Bonaparte on his campaign in this country. On looking at Le Père's construction projects, de Lesseps was inspired with the idea of a canal linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

However he was then appointed Consul in Rotterdam, and after that in Barcelona, where the protection he provided to civilians during the uprising of 1842 earned him the cordon of Officer of the Légion d'honneur. In 1848, de Lesseps was appointed French Minister in Madrid by Lamartine. The following year, he was sent to Rome to negotiate an agreement between the leaders of the Roman Republic and General Oudinot's French troops. But the Legislature ordered the suppression of the Roman Republic and de Lesseps was abruptly repudiated and recalled, his career as a diplomat seemingly in ruins. He withdrew from public life to live in semi-retirement in the Indre for nearly five years. In 1854, learning of the accession of Mohammed Said, an old friend of his, to the post of Viceroy of Egypt, he hastened to Cairo and obtained from the new sovereign “the power to found and head a universal company for the digging of a channel through the Suez isthmus and the operational development of a canal between the two seas”. This on condition that it was approved by the Sultan of Constantinople, the de facto ruler of Egypt.

The project was submitted to and passed by an international scientific commission, and preparatory exploration was begun immmediately. However the project ran into serious difficulties, principally of a diplomatic nature. Firstly in Constantinople, where de Lesseps attempted in vain to secure the approval of the Ottoman government in 1855, doubtlessly in view of the attitude of the English who were afraid the French might threaten the East Indies trade route. Then de Lesseps left for England where, for want of swaying Prime Minister Palmerston, he undertook to win round the chambers of commerce. In 1858, a floatation enabled him to collect a hundred million Francs from 20,000 investors, mainly French, without the support of the major banks. He thus founded the Universal Company of the Suez Maritime Canal. But even once work on digging the canal had begun, the controversy continued. The British press denounced the corvée which provided the necessary labour. In 1863 Said died and was succeeded by Ismail who ordered work to be stopped the following year. In spite of England, the Ottoman government, the Viceroy and the Canal company appealed to Napoleon III as arbitrator to settle their differences.

Morny was opposed to de Lesseps who nonetheless was able to count on the support of Empress Eugénie, his second cousin. The verdict delivered by the Emperor on 6 July 1864 enabled the future of the Company to be secured. To make up for the abolition of hard labour, workers were brought in from Europe and, more importantly, modern materials were used to dig the canal. Further issues of securities made it possible for work to continue, after it had been slowed down by a cholera epidemic. Finally, the Sultan of Constantinople issued the firman sanctioning the company in 1865, and the following year Great Britain agreed to acknowledge its existence officially. Work was successfully completed in 1869. The waters of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea were united on 15 August, and on 17 November the canal was officially inaugurated with magnificent ceremony in the presence of numerous world leaders. At the head of the flotilla was the Eagle bearing the colours of France. At his side, Empress Eugénie accompanied Ferdinand de Lesseps, President of the Suez Canal Company, as he savoured his triumph.

It was after all thanks to his energy, dynamism and negotiating skills, and his managing to find the support necessary to overcome all opposition, that this great work was accomplished. When the war of 1870 broke out, de Lesseps was in London being received by Queen Victoria. Under the Third Republic, he became “the Great Frenchman”, “the most famous man in the world”. His interest turned to the exploration of Africa and, among other things, to the expeditions of Savorgnan of Brazza. In 1884, he was elected to the Académie Française. He played an active role in assuring a successful outcome for the Suez Canal Company, for example when England bought up company shares owned by Ismail in 1879, or during the Arabi Pasha revolt in 1882, and managed to conclude a deal between the Company and British shipowners over rates payable on passage through the canal. However in 1878, on obtaining a concession from the Columbian government to build the Panama Canal, he embarked upon a new and high-risk venture.

Geographical and financial difficulties along with the opposition of the United States brought about the failure of the project, ending in a serious political and financial scandal (1888-1892). Ferdinand, sentenced to five years in prison in 1893, died the following year, ten years before the Panama Canal was opened under the aegis of the United States. FACTBOX - Long History Of Canals In Egypt Linking Europe And Asia Egypt said on 5th August it plans to build a new Suez Canal alongside the existing 145-year-old historic waterway in a multi-billion dollar project aimed at expanding trade along the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia. Here is a brief history: – The first canal connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas via the Nile River was dug in 1874 B.C. during the reign of the Egyptian pharaoh Senausret III. It was abandoned and reopened several times over the subsequent 2,500 years. – Pharonic inscriptions showed that Egyptians used the canals to move warships, send pilgrimages to the Holy Land and transport grain and stones used in ancient monuments.

– Napoleon sought to build a modern canal in order to undermine Britain’s control of trading routes to Asia, but he abandoned the project after engineers wrongly determined that a difference in water levels would cause the Mediterranean to be inundated. Image Credits: wikimedia.org – French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps and Egyptian viceroy Said Pasha developed the current Suez Canal in the mid-19th century. French and Egyptian private interests controlled the company entrusted with building and running the canal, though Britain later acquired Egypt’s share. – Completion of the 163-kilometre (101 mile) waterway took 10 years of intense and generally poorly-paid work by Egyptians who were drafted at the rate of 20,000 every 10 months from “the peasantry.” – The canal, which was opened for navigation on Nov. 17, 1869, cut weeks if not months off journeys between Europe and Asia that otherwise necessitated a trip around Africa. Numerous heads of state visited Egypt for weeks of celebrations.

– In 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the canal, leading to a failed invasion by Britain, which controlled the channel, as well as France and Israel. The waterway was closed briefly until 1957 and the again for eight years following the 1967 war with Israel. – President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced on Tuesday that Egypt would build a new channel as part of a larger project to expand port and shipping facilities around the canal in an effort to establish Egypt as a major trade hub. Primary Source: Suez Canal Authority Suez Crisis - Cold War - HISTORY.com Suez Crisis A+E Networks Introduction On October 29, 1956, Israeli armed forces pushed into Egypt toward the Suez Canal after Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-70) nationalized the canal in July of that same year, initiating the Suez Crisis. The Israelis soon were joined by French and British forces, which nearly brought the Soviet Union into the conflict, and damaged their relationships with the United States. In the end, the British, French and Israeli governments withdrew their troops in late 1956 and early 1957.

Google Suez Crisis: Background The catalyst for the joint Israeli-British-French attack on Egypt was the nationalization of the Suez Canal by Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser in July 1956. The situation had been brewing for some time. Two years earlier, the Egyptian military had begun pressuring the British to end their military presence (which had been granted in the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty) in the canal zone. Nasser’s armed forces also engaged in sporadic battles with Israeli soldiers along the border between the two countries, and the Egyptian leader did nothing to conceal his antipathy toward the Zionist nation. Did You Know? The 120-mile Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, took 10 years to construct and opened in 1869. The canal was developed by Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps, who in the 1880s made an unsuccessful attempt to develop the Panama Canal. Supported by Soviet arms and money, and furious with the United States for reneging on a promise to provide funds for construction of the Aswan Dam on the Nile River, Nasser ordered the Suez Canal seized and nationalized.

The British were angry with the move and sought the support of France (which believed that Nasser was supporting rebels in the French colony of Algeria) and Israel (which needed little provocation to strike at the enemy on its border) in an armed assault to retake the canal. Suez Crisis: 1956-57 The Israelis struck first, on October 26, 1956. Two days later, British and French military forces joined them. Originally, forces from the three countries were set to strike at once, but the British and French troops were delayed. Behind schedule, but ultimately successful, the British and French troops took control of the area around the Suez Canal. However, their hesitation had given the Soviet Union–also confronted with a growing crisis in Hungary–time to respond. The Soviets, eager to exploit Arab nationalism and gain a foothold in the Middle East, supplied arms from Czechoslovakia to the Egyptian government beginning in 1955, and eventually helped Egypt construct the Aswan Dam on the Nile River after the United States refused to support the project.

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) railed against the invasion and threatened to rain down nuclear missiles on Western Europe if the Israeli-French-British force did not withdraw. The response of President Dwight Eisenhower’s administration was measured. It warned the Soviets that reckless talk of nuclear conflict would only make matters worse, and cautioned Khrushchev to refrain from direct intervention in the conflict. However, Eisenhower (1890-1969) also issued stern warnings to the French, British and Israelis to give up their campaign and withdraw from Egyptian soil. Eisenhower was upset with the British, in particular, for not keeping the United States informed about their intentions. The United States threatened all three nations with economic sanctions if they persisted in their attack. The threats did their work. The British and French forces withdrew by December; Israel finally bowed to U.S. pressure in March 1957. In the aftermath of the Suez Crisis, Britain and France found their influence as world powers weakened.

Tags Suez: The Canal Before the Crisis | History Today Suez: The Canal Before the Crisis Britain , Egypt Empire Suez Crisis Steve Morewood looks at the rise and fall of British dominance of the Suez Canal in the years 1882 to 1954. When the Suez Canal opened in November 1869, its French creator Ferdinand de Lesseps (1805-94) predicted that he had marked the site of a future battlefield. The first ship to traverse the waterway was French but it was followed by a British vessel, beginning a dominance of canal traffic that would last until the 1950s. As one British director on the canal company, wrote: 'it might be said that the Canal was made for ...[British shipping], as it has an incontestable preeminence upon it.' The Suez route via the Mediterranean became an imperial communications artery, plying trade between Britain and the eastern part of its empire in peace and conveying troops and military supplies in war. From the outset, British governments recognized a vital interest had been created and that their forces must be in the best position to protect it.

How Britain established, maintained and finally relinquished its dominance of the Suez Canal are key elements in an equation that mirrors the rise and decline of the British Empire and Britain's claim to world power status, providing the prelude to the denouement of the Suez Crisis. Want the full article and website archive access? Already a member? Log in now

Question: Which waterway was developed by Ferdinand de Lesseps and opened in 1869?
Answer: The Suez Canal