The interest to connect the two seas dates back to ancient times. A series of canals connecting the Nile River to the Red Sea were in use as early as 2000 BX. However, despite several efforts, a direct connection between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea could not be established.
An attempt to build a canal connecting the two sea was made much later in the 1700s, when Napoleon Bonaparte conducted an expedition to Egypt. He felt that constructing a French-owned canal (Egypt was then under French control) on the Isthmus of Suez could cause trade problems for the British as they would either have to pay dues to France, or transport goods via land or take the longer sea route.
Napoleon’s plan began to be seriously studies in 1799 but things came to a halt because of a miscalculation in the measurement of the levels of the two seas. Engineers believed the Red Sea was several metres higher than the Mediterranean and that building a canal might cause the Red Sea to pour into the Mediterranean which could result in flooding of the Nile delta.
In the 1830s, the idea of building a canal resurfaced due to the work of French explorer and engineer Linant de Bellefonds. He performed a survey on the Isthmus of Suez and confirmed that both the Mediterranean and Red Sea were of the same level. This meant that a canal without locks was possibility, making construction easier.
Bellefonds and French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps managed to convince Khedive Said Pasha (who oversaw Egypt and the Sudan for the Ottomans) to create a company came to be known as the Suez Canal Company, and it was given a 99-year lease over the waterway and the surrounding area.
Construction of the canal officially commenced on April 25, 1859. Low-paid Egyptian labourers were employed for carrying out the work. After several delays and pressure from the British and the Turks, the canal was finally opened for traffic on November 17, 1869.
The first ship to officially navigate through the canal was the imperial yacht of French Empress Eugenie, the L’Aigle, followed by the British ocean liner Delta.
Picture Credit : Google