Suez Canal History and Overview
Connecting the
Red Sea With the Mediterranean
By Amanda Briney
The Suez Canal, a major shipping lane through Egypt,
connects the Mediterranean
Sea with the Gulf of Suez, a northern branch of the Red Sea.
It officially opened in November 1869.
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.
Pharaoh Senusret III is thought to be the first to connect
the Mediterranean and Red seas by digging connections through branches of the
Nile River in the 19th century BCE.
Those eventually filled with silt.
Various other pharaohs, the Romans and possibly Omar the Great
built other passageways over the centuries, but those, too, yielded too disuse.
Napoleon's Plan
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.
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, causing fear of
flooding the Nile Delta.
Universal Suez Ship Canal
Company
The next attempt occurred in the mid-1800s when a French
diplomat and engineer, Ferdinand de Lesseps, convinced the Egyptian viceroy
Said Pasha to support building 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,
when the Egyptian government would take over control.
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.
Low-paid forced Egyptian labors using picks and shovels did the
initial digging which was extremely slow and painstaking.
This was eventually abandoned for steam- and coal-powered
machines that quickly finished the work.
It opened 10 years later on November 17, 1869, at a cost of $100
million.
Significant Impact on World
Trade
Almost immediately, the Suez Canal had a significant impact on
world trade as goods were moved around the world in record time.
Its initial size was 25 feet (7.6 meters) deep, 72 feet (22
meters) wide at the bottom and between 200 feet and 300 feet (61-91 meters)
wide at the top.
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.
Conflicts Over Use and Control
A few conflicts have arisen over the use and control of the Suez
Canal:
·
1936: The United Kingdom
was given the right to maintain military forces in the Suez Canal Zone and
control entry points.
·
1954: Egypt and the United
Kingdom 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.
·
1948: With the creation
of Israel, the Egyptian government prohibited the use of the canal by ships
coming and going from the country.
The Suez Crisis
In July 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, announced
the country was nationalizing the canal to help finance the Aswan High Dam after
the United States and the United Kingdom withdrew support from funding.
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.
The Soviet Union offers to back Egypt militarily, and
eventually, the Suez Crisis is
ended with a United Nations-negotiated cease fire.
A Truce and Later Egypt Takes
Control
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.
Following the Six-Day War in 1967, 14 ships that were in passage
in the canal became trapped and could not leave until 1975 because both ends of
the canal were blocked by sunken boats on either side of the canal.
They became known as the "Yellow Fleet" for the desert
sand that accumulated on them over the years.
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.
101 Miles Long and 984 Feet
Wide
Today, the Suez Canal is operated by the Suez Canal Authority.
The canal itself is 101 miles (163 kilometers) long and 984 feet (300 meters)
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 meters) 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.
No Locks
The Suez Canal has no locks because the 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 low speed to prevent erosion of the canal's banks by the
ships' waves.
The 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.
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.
Amanda
Briney
Geography
Expert
Education
M.A.,
Geography, California State University - East Bay
B.A.,
English and Geography, California State University - Sacramento
Introduction
Professional
geographer, writer, and scholar
Certificate
of Advanced Study in Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
More
than 10 years of experience writing about a broad array of geographical topics
Experience
Amanda
Briney is a professional geographer and writer who contributed to ThoughtCo for
more than 10 years. She wrote countless articles on a wide range of topics such
as an introduction to the subject of geography, reviews of ecotourism,
discussions about environmental determinism, and the structure of Latin
American cities. The scope of her work also includes other formats such as
histories, guides, and fact sheets about many parts of the world. An ultimate
scholar, Amanda also contributes work to academic venues and the GIS Lounge, an
informational portal about geography.
Amanda
enjoys all aspects of geography and mapping but is especially interested in
examining natural landscapes through spatial analysis. As such, she holds a
certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from California State
University. She also attended Diablo Valley College where she studied air photo
interpretation and the formation of the Earth's landscapes.
Education
Amanda
Briney received a Master Arts (M.A.) in Geography from California State
University–East Bay. She also holds a Bachelor Arts (B.A.) in English and
Geography from California State University–Sacramento and earned a Certificate
of Advanced Study in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from California State
University.
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https://www.thoughtco.com/suez-canal-red-sea-mediterranean-sea-1435568
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