The Suez Canal is a human-made waterway that cuts north-south across the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt.
The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea to
the Red Sea, making it the shortest maritime route to Asia from Europe. Since its completion in 1869, it has become one of the world’s most heavily used shipping lanes. Importance of Suez Canal: The Suez Canal is important because it is the shortest maritime route from Europe to Asia. Prior to its construction, ships headed toward Asia had to embark on an arduous journey around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. Because of its strategic location, the canal is both heavily used and heavily protected.
Construction of the Suez Canal:
The construction of the Suez Canal officially began on April 25, 1859. It was estimated that a total of 2,613 million cubic feet of earth- 600 million on land and 2,013 million through dredging- would have to be moved for building the canal. Furthermore, the total original cost of the project was estimated at 200 million francs. However, the decision to build a canal connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea invited criticism from Briton, who considered the project a political scheme to weaken the country’s dominance in seaborne trade. Britain continued to oppose the project until the Empire bought a 44 per cent stake in the canal after the Egyptian government auctioned off its shares in 1875 due to financial problems. Initially, the construction of the canal was carried out by forced labourers. It is said that thousands of people were forcefully assigned to dig the canal using picks and shovels until Pasha banned the use of forced labour in 1863. This compelled the Suez Canal Company to bring custom-made steam and coal-powered shovels and dredgers to build the canal. With the help of this machinery, the project received the boost it required and allowed the waters of the Mediterranean to flow into the Red Sea through the canal on November 17, 1869. When it opened for navigation, the Suez Canal was 200 to 300 feet wide at the surface, 72 feet wide at the bottom and 25 feet deep. At the time of completion, the project’s total cost was more than twice the original estimate.
Suez Canal map:
Who built the Suez Canal? In 1854, Ferdinand de Lesseps, the former french consul to Cairo, got an agreement with the Ottoman Governor of Egypt, Sa’id Pasha, to build the 100 miles long canal across the Isthmus of Suez. He envisaged that the channel would be open to ships from all nations, and his company would operate the canal for 99 years after its opening.
How deep is the Suez Canal now?
After many enlargements, the Suez Canal is 193.30 kilometres long, 24 km deep and 205 metres wide. The other access channel is 22 km long, and the southern track is 9 km long. The canal itself is 193 km long.
Facts about Suez Canal:
Its origin found in ancient Egypt It was opened in 1869 The statue of liberty was built for the canal Its developer also attempted to built the Panama Canal The British government opposed the project It was nationalised in 1956 It was shut down after the six-day war It takes 12-15 days to travel It is now 193 km long and 205 meters wide.