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The Suez Canal
The idea of connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea is as old as the pharaohs. The first canal in the region seems to have been dug about 1850BC, but many attempts to complete the task failed. Desert winds blew into the canal and clogged it. About 150 years ago, Great Britain had a thriving trade with India, but without a canal, British ships had to make a long journey around the entire continent of Africa. A canal through the Isthmus of Suez would cut the journey by 6,000 miles. An isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger pieces of land. A French company led by Ferdinand deLesseps made a deal with Egypt to build the Suez Canal. After ten years of work, the canal opened in 1869. The Egyptian ruler, Ismail, celebrated by building a huge palace in Cairo. Ismail treated royalty from around the world to a celebration in honor of the new canal. The heavy spending for the celebration came at a time when the price of Egyptian cotton plunged. Egypt had gone into debt to pay for the Suez Canal. Ismail took out loans from European banks, but he was unable to repay them. Egypt was forced to sell the canal to Great Britain. Soon after, the British sent soldiers into Egypt, saying they were concerned for their property. For many years, the English controlled the Suez Canal. In 1956, Egyptian president Gamel Abdel Nasser seized the canal and declared it to be the property of the Egyptian people. Egypt fought three bitter wars with Israel during this period, and denied Israel the use of the waterway. Egypt and Israel agreed to a peace treaty in 1979, and since then the Suez Canal has been open to every nation. |
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To cite this page: |
The
Suez Canal is one of the most important waterways in the world. The 101-mile
waterway connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. The Suez Canal
is often called the “crossroads to Europe, Africa, and Asia”
because the route is used to transport goods to and from all three continents.