#HistoryofSuezCanal #SuezCanalHistory #SuezCanalDocumentary
History of Suez Canal.
The Suez Canal is a man-made waterway connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea. It enables a more direct route for shipping between Europe and Asia, effectively allowing for passage from the North Atlantic to the Indian Ocean without having to round the African continent.
Where Is the Suez Canal?
The Suez Canal stretches 120 miles from Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt southward to the city of Suez.
The canal separates the bulk of Egypt from the Sinai Peninsula.
It took 10 years to build, and was officially opened on November 17, 1869.
Owned and operated by the Suez Canal Authority, the Suez Canal’s use is intended to be open to ships of all countries.
Construction of the Suez Canal.
Construction began, at the northernmost Port Said end of the canal, in early 1859.
The excavation work took 10 years, and an estimated 1.5 million people worked on the project.
In Ancient times a series of small canals connecting the Nile River to the Red Sea were in use as early as 2000 B.C.
Egypt was ruled by Britain and France at the time.
The total costs of building the Suez Canal to balloon to $100 million, more than double the original estimate.
Suez Canal Opens.
Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt and the Sudan, formally opened the Suez Canal on November 17, 1869.
Officially, the first ship to navigate through the canal was the imperial yacht of French Empress Eugenie, the L’Aigle, followed by the British ocean liner Delta.
The S.S. Dido, was the first ship to pass through the Suez Canal from South to North.
Suez Canal during Wartime.
In 1888, the Convention of Constantinople decreed that the Suez Canal would operate as a neutral zone, under the protection of the British, who had by then assumed control of the surrounding region, including Egypt and the Sudan.
The British famously defended the canal from attack by the Ottoman Empire in 1915 during World War 1 and 1940 during World War 2.
Suez Crisis.
In response, in October 1956, troops from Britain, France and Israel threatened to invade Egypt, leading to the so-called Suez Crisis.
Fearing an escalation in the conflict, Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester B. Pearson recommended the establishment of a United Nations peacekeeping force, the first of its kind, to protect the canal and ensure access to all. The U.N. ratified Pearson’s proposal on November 4, 1956.
Suez Canal Today.
An average of 50 ships navigate the canal daily, carrying more than 300 million tons of goods per year.
In 2014, the Egyptian government oversaw at $8 billion expansion project that widened the Suez from 61 meters to 312 meters for a 21-mile distance.
The project took one year to complete and, as a result, the canal can accommodate ships to pass both directions simultaneously.
In March 2021, an enormous container ship heading from China became stuck in the canal and blocked more than 100 ships at each end of the vital shipping artery.