The Suez Canal divides. Suez Canal - the border between two continents
Construction of the Suez Canal.
Drawing of the Suez Canal (1881)
Maybe, back during the Twelfth Dynasty, Pharaoh Senusret III (BC - BC) laid from west to east a canal dug through Wadi Tumilat connecting the Nile to the Red Sea, for unhindered trade with Punt.
Later, the construction and restoration of the canal was carried out by the powerful Egyptian pharaohs Ramses II and Necho II.
Herodotus (II. 158) writes that Necho (609-594) began to build a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea, but did not finish it.
The canal was completed around 500 BC by King Darius the First, the Persian conqueror of Egypt. In memory of this event, Darius erected granite steles on the banks of the Nile, including one near Carbet, 130 kilometers from Pie.
In the 3rd century BC. e. The canal was made navigable by Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247). He is mentioned by Diodorus (I. 33. 11 -12) and Strabo (XVII. 1. 25), and is mentioned in the inscription on the stele from Pythos (16th year of the reign of Ptolemy). It began slightly higher up the Nile than the previous canal, in the area of Facussa. It is possible, however, that under Ptolemy the old canal was cleared, deepened and extended to the sea, supplying the lands of Wadi Tumilat with fresh water. The fairway was wide enough - two triremes could easily separate in it.
Its fixed capital was equal to 200 million francs (in this amount Lesseps calculated all the costs of the enterprise), divided into 400 thousand shares of 500 francs each; Said Pasha signed up for a significant part of them. The English government, with Palmerston at its head, fearing that the Suez Canal would lead to the liberation of Egypt from Turkish rule and to the weakening or loss of England's dominance over India, put all sorts of obstacles in the way of the enterprise, but had to yield to the energy of Lesseps , especially since his enterprise was patronized by Napoleon III and Said Pasha, and then (since 1863) by his heir, Ismail Pasha.
The technical difficulties were enormous. I had to work under the scorching sun, in a sandy desert completely devoid of fresh water. At first, the company had to use up to 1,600 camels just to deliver water to workers; but by 1863 she had completed a small freshwater canal from the Nile, which ran approximately in the same direction as the ancient canals (the remains of which were used in some places), and was intended not for navigation, but solely for the delivery of fresh water - first to workers, then and the settlements that were to arise along the canal. This freshwater canal runs from Zakazik on the Nile east to Ismailia, and thence southeast along the sea canal to Suez; channel width 17 m on the surface, 8 m on the bottom; its depth on average is only 2¼ m, in some places even much less. Its discovery made the work easier, but still the mortality rate among workers was high. Workers were provided by the Egyptian government, but European workers also had to be used (in total, from 20 to 40 thousand people worked on construction).
The 200 million francs determined according to Lesseps's original project soon ran out, especially due to the enormous expenses on bribery at the courts of Said and Ismail, on widespread advertising in Europe, on the costs of representing Lesseps himself and other bigwigs of the company. It was necessary to make a new bond issue of 166,666,500 francs, then others, so that the total cost of the canal by 1872 reached 475 million (by 1892 - 576 million). In the six-year period in which Lesseps promised to complete the work, it was not possible to build the canal. The excavation work was carried out using forced labor from Egypt's poor (in the early stages) and took 11 years.
The northern section through the swamp and Lake Manzala was completed first, then the flat section to Lake Timsah. From here the excavation went to two huge depressions - the long-dried Bitter Lakes, the bottom of which was 9 meters below sea level. After filling the lakes, the builders moved to the end southern section.
The canal officially opened to navigation on November 17, 1869. On the occasion of the opening of the canal, the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi was commissioned to perform the opera Aida, the first production of which took place on December 24, 1871 at the Cairo Opera House.
One of the first travelers in the 19th century.
Economic and strategic importance of the canal
The canal had an immediate and invaluable impact on world trade. Six months earlier, the First Transcontinental Railroad had been put into operation, and the entire world could now be circumnavigated in record time. The canal played an important role in the expansion and further colonization of Africa. External debts forced Ismail Pasha, who succeeded Said Pasha, to sell his share in the canal to Great Britain in 1875. The General Suez Canal Company essentially became an Anglo-French enterprise, and Egypt was excluded from both the management of the canal and the profits. England became the actual owner of the canal. This position was further strengthened after it occupied Egypt in 1882.
Present tense
The Egyptian Suez Canal Authority (SCA) reported that at the end of 2009, 17,155 ships passed through the canal, which is 20% less than in 2009 (21,170 ships). For the Egyptian budget, this meant a reduction in revenues from the operation of the canal from 5.38 billion US dollars in pre-crisis 2008 to 4.29 billion US dollars in 2009.
According to the head of the Canal Authority, Ahmad Fadel, 17,799 ships passed through the Suez Canal in 2011, which is 1.1 percent less than the year before. At the same time, the Egyptian authorities earned $5.22 billion from the transit of ships (456 million dollars more than in 2010).
In December 2011, Egyptian authorities announced that tariffs for cargo transit, which have not changed over the past three years, will increase by three percent from March 2012.
According to 2009 data, about 10% of the world's maritime traffic passes through the canal. The passage through the canal takes about 14 hours. On average, 48 ships pass through the canal per day.
Connection between banks
Since April 1980, a road tunnel has been operating in the area of the city of Suez, passing under the bottom of the Suez Canal, connecting Sinai and continental Africa. In addition to the technical excellence that made it possible to create such a complex engineering project, this tunnel attracts with its monumentality, is of great strategic importance and is rightfully considered a landmark of Egypt.
The opening of the Suez Canal was attended by the Empress of France Eugenie (wife of Napoleon III), the Emperor of Austria-Hungary Franz Joseph I with the Minister-President of the Hungarian government Andrássy, the Dutch prince and princess, and the Prussian prince. Never before has Egypt known such celebrations and received so many distinguished European guests. The celebration lasted seven days and nights and cost Khedive Ismail 28 million gold francs. And only one point of the celebration program was not fulfilled: the famous Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi did not have time to finish the opera “Aida” commissioned for this occasion, the premiere of which was supposed to enrich the opening ceremony of the channel. Instead of the premiere, a large gala ball was held in Port Said.
see also
Notes
Literature
- Dementyev I. A. Suez Canal / Ed. acad. L. N. Ivanova. - Ed. 2nd. - M.: Geographgiz, 1954. - 72 p. - (At the world map). - 50,000 copies.(region) (1st ed. - M.: Geographgiz, 1952. 40 p.)
Links
- V. V. Vodovozov// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional ones). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
- The Suez Canal is 140 years old: the story of the creation of a 19th-century legend. RIA NEWS (November 17, 2009). Archived from the original on May 19, 2012. Retrieved November 17, 2009.
SUEZ CANAL
SUEZ CANAL
waterway of international importance. Length - 161 km from Port Said (Mediterranean Sea) to Suez (Red Sea). Includes the canal itself and several lakes. Built in 1869, width 120-318 m, depth on the fairway - 18 m, no locks. The volume of transportation is 80 million tons, mainly oil and oil products, ferrous and non-ferrous ores. It is considered a conditional geogr. border between Africa and Asia.
Concise geographical dictionary. EdwART. 2008.
Suez Canal
(Suez Canal), a navigable, lockless canal in Egypt, connects Red sea at Mr. Suez with Mediterranean Sea at Mr. Port Said , crossing Isthmus of Suez . Opened in 1869 (construction lasted 11 years). The authors of the project are French and Italian engineers (Linan, Mougel, Negrelli). Nationalized in 1956, before that it belonged to the Anglo-French General Suez Canal Company. As a result of the Arab-Israeli military conflicts, shipping through the canal was interrupted twice - in 1956–57 and 1967–75. It is laid along the Isthmus of Suez and crosses a number of lakes: Manzala, Timsah and Bol. Gorky. To supply the canal zone with river water from the Nile, the Ismailia canal was dug. The canal route is considered a conditional geographical border between Asia and Africa. Length 161 km (173 km including sea approaches). After reconstruction, the width is 120–318 m, the depth is 16.2 m. On average, it passes per day. up to 55 ships: two caravans in the south and one in the north. Medium. channel travel time – approx. 14 hours. In 1981, the first stage of the canal reconstruction project was completed, which made it possible to carry through it tankers with a deadweight of up to 150 thousand tons (on completion of the second stage - up to 250 thousand tons) and cargo ships with a deadweight of up to 370 thousand tons. For Egypt, the operation of the S. k. is the second most important source of income for the country.
Dictionary of modern geographical names. - Ekaterinburg: U-Factoria. Under the general editorship of academician. V. M. Kotlyakova. 2006 .
Suez Canal
a lock-free shipping canal in Egypt, on the border between Asia and Africa, connects the Red Sea near the city of Suez with the Mediterranean Sea near the city of Port Said. The shortest waterway between the ports of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Opened in 1869 (construction lasted 11 years). Nationalized in 1956, before that it belonged to the Anglo-French General Suez Canal Company. It is laid along the deserted Suez Isthmus and crosses a number of lakes, including the Big Gorky. To supply the canal zone with river water from the Nile, the Ismailia canal was dug. Dl. Suez Canal 161 km (173 km including sea approaches), width. (after reconstruction) 120–318 m, depth. 16.2 m. Per day passes on Wed. up to 55 ships - two caravans in the south, one in the north. The average time for passing the canal is approx. 14 hours.
Geography. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. - M.: Rosman. Edited by prof. A. P. Gorkina. 2006 .
Suez Canal
one of the world's most important man-made waterways; crosses the Isthmus of Suez, stretching from Port Said (on the Mediterranean Sea) to the Gulf of Suez (on the Red Sea). The length of the canal, the main channel of which runs almost straight from north to south and separates the main part of the territory of Egypt from the Sinai Peninsula, is 168 km (including the 6 km length of the approach canals to its ports); The width of the water surface of the canal in some places reaches 169 m, and its depth is such that ships with a draft of more than 16 m can pass through it.
Canal route. The canal crosses a low-lying area of sandy desert where the laying of its channel was favored by lakes Manzala, Timsakh, Bolshoye Gorkoye and Maloe Gorkoye. The water surface of both Bitter Lakes lies below sea level, but they had to be dredged because their depths were shallower than required for the canal. On the 38 km section from Port Said to El Kantara, the route passes through Lake Manzala, which is essentially a shallow lagoon of the Mediterranean Sea. The nature of the soil in the Suez Canal area made it easy and quick to carry out excavation work, and thanks to the flat terrain here - unlike, for example, the Isthmus of Panama - there was no need to build locks. Drinking water in the Isthmus of Suez region is supplied from the Nile through the Ismailia freshwater canal, which begins just north of Cairo. The Suez Canal Zone is connected to Cairo and the Nile Valley by a network of railways originating from the cities of Port Said, Ismailia and Port Tawfik.
The first canals on the Isthmus of Suez. The ancient Egyptians built a shipping canal from the Nile to the Red Sea ca. 1300 BC, during the reigns of Pharaohs Seti I and Ramesses II. This canal, which was first dug as a channel for the flow of fresh water from the Nile to the area of Lake Timsah, began to be extended to Suez under Pharaoh Necho II ca. 600 BC and brought it to the Red Sea a century later. During the construction of the modern Suez Canal, part of this old channel was used to build the Ismailia freshwater canal. Under the Ptolemies, the old canal was maintained in working order, during the period of Byzantine rule it was abandoned, and then restored again under Amr, who conquered Egypt during the reign of Caliph Omar. Amr decided to connect the Nile to the Red Sea to supply Arabia with wheat and other food products from the Nile Valley. However, the canal, the construction of which was undertaken by Amr, calling it “Khalij Amir al-mu"minin” (“canal of the Commander of the Faithful”), ceased to function after the 8th century AD.
At the end of the 15th century. The Venetians were studying the possibilities of building a canal from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Suez, but their plans were not put into practice. At the beginning of the 19th century. Europeans mastered the route to India through Egypt: along the Nile to Cairo, and then by camel to Suez. The idea of building a canal across the Isthmus of Suez, which would help significantly reduce the cost of time and money, was then considered unrealistic, based on the conclusions of Leper, an engineer whom Napoleon commissioned to conduct research on the canal project. But Leper’s conclusions were erroneous due to the misconception he accepted on faith about the difference in the water surface levels of the Mediterranean and Red Seas (allegedly in the Mediterranean it was 9 m lower than in the Red).
Modern channel. In 1854, Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French consul in Egypt, received from Said Pasha, the ruler of Egypt, a concession to create the Universal Suez Canal Company (La Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez). It was formed in 1858. Work on the construction of the canal began in April 1859, while at the same time a freshwater canal was being laid from Cairo to Ismailia. According to the original terms of this treaty, the Egyptian government was to receive 15% of the gross profits from shipping on the canal, and 99 years after the canal was commissioned, it was to become Egyptian property. Most of the shares were purchased by the French, the Turks and Said Pasha, who bought almost half of all shares. In 1875, Disraeli, Prime Minister of Great Britain, bought 176,602 shares of the Company from Khedive Ismail for £4 million, giving Great Britain a 44% stake.
The opening of navigation along the canal took place on November 17, 1869. 29,725 thousand pounds sterling were spent on its construction. The initial depth of the fairway was 7.94 m, and its width along the bottom was 21 m; later, the canal was deepened so much that ships with a draft of up to 10.3 m began to pass through it. After the nationalization of the canal by Egypt (in 1956), work was carried out to further improve it, and in 1981 ships with a draft of up to 16.1 m began to pass through it.
The role of the channel in world trade. Thanks to the Suez Canal, the length of the waterway between Western Europe and India was reduced by almost 8,000 km. In the northern direction, it transports mainly oil and petroleum products for Western Europe. Industrial products for the countries of Africa and Asia are transported in the southern direction.
International importance of the channel. The importance of the canal was recognized by the leading powers of the world in the Constantinople Convention of 1888, which guaranteed the passage of ships of all countries through it in conditions of peace and war. The Turks allowed Italian ships to pass through the canal even during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911 (during the Russian-Turkish War of 1877–1878 the canal was closed to Russian ships). Serious problems on these issues did not arise during both world wars. However, after the establishment of the State of Israel (1948), Egypt detained ships traveling through the canal to or from Israel and confiscated their cargo. There were no military fortifications in the canal zone, but British troops had been in Egypt since 1882. Before the nationalization of the canal, its administration consisted mainly of the British and French. Then the Egyptians began to control the canal.
LITERATURE
Perminov P.V. Sphinx smile. M., 1985
Encyclopedia Around the World. 2008 .
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal is located in Egypt (cm. Egypt), laid across the Isthmus of Suez, connects the Red Sea near the city of Suez with the Mediterranean Sea near the city of Port Said. In ancient times, there was a connecting route from the Mediterranean Sea along the Nile and several canals to the Red Sea. According to ancient chronicles, the Suez Canal was built by King Darius. This is also confirmed by the inscriptions of Darius on the stones, which stand 20 km north of Suez. Darius's route ran along the western bank of the modern canal.
The canal was in decline after the 2nd century. BC BC, restored by the Roman Emperor Trajan. For 2 centuries, Roman ships sailed along it to the shores of Arabia and India. After the conquest of Egypt by Byzantium, the canal did not operate from the mid-9th century until the mid-19th century. During the period of modern history, the idea of digging a canal across the isthmus was repeatedly expressed, but all attempts ended in failure, since the difference in water levels in the two seas was too large (9.9 m). Only Ferdinand de Lesseps, an engineer and French consul in Egypt, managed to begin construction of the canal in 1859. It was supposed to go from Suez, inspect its harbor, and then go to Pelusay. In the final version of the project, it was decided to move the northern mouth of the canal to where the Port Said harbor subsequently appeared in honor of the Khedive of Egypt.
Construction was successfully completed by 1869, and the Suez Canal opened on October 4, 1869. F. de Lesseps organized an unprecedented ceremony for 6 thousand guests. Composer Giuseppe Verdi was commissioned to perform an opera for the grand opening of the canal and the new Italian theater in Cairo. This is how the immortal “Aida” was created. The next day, 48 flag-decorated ships set sail through the canal in a pre-arranged order. The French Empress Eugenie, as an honored guest, sailed on the first ship. Many crowned heads of Europe and other continents took part in the celebrations. And then the efficient travel agent Thomas Cook organized a tourist trip through the new channel. So, with fireworks, dancing, music, the Suez Canal was transferred to public use.
Thanks to the Suez Canal, the long and dangerous journey around Africa for ships traveling from Europe to the East was significantly shortened. Important economically and strategically, the canal from the very beginning fell into the sphere of interests of the great powers, especially Great Britain and France. In 1875, the government of the English Prime Minister B. Disraeli acquired shares of the Suez Canal Company from the Egyptian Khedive. Since 1880, the management of the Suez Canal was carried out by the Anglo-French “General Suez Canal Company”. Nasser's nationalization of the company that owned the Suez Canal caused a crisis in 1956. Nasser responded to Israel's occupation of the Sinai Peninsula with a blockade of the canal, which was lifted only in 1975. This route today handles 14% of all world trade traffic. The length of the canal is 162.5 km, and its channel has been expanded and deepened several times. About 50 ships pass through the canal every day. This takes 14-16 hours. In the Port Said area, as in three other places, the canal bifurcates to allow two-way traffic for ships.
Encyclopedia of tourism Cyril and Methodius. 2008 .
See what the "SUET CANAL" is in other dictionaries:
Suez Canal- - a navigable lockless sea canal in the northeast of Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The Suez Canal is the shortest waterway between the ports of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans (8-15 thousand kilometers less than the route around Africa) ... Encyclopedia of Newsmakers
Suez Canal- Suez Canal. The SUEZ CANAL, in Egypt, is laid across the Isthmus of Suez, connecting the Red Sea near the city of Suez with the Mediterranean Sea near the city of Port Said. Opened in 1869. Length 161 km, depth 16.2 m, width 120,318 m, without locks. Suez Canal... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
In Egypt, laid across the Suez Isthmus, it connects the Red Sea near the city of Suez with the Mediterranean Sea near the city of Port Said. Opened in 1869. Since 1880, the management of the Suez Canal was carried out by the Anglo-French Universal Suez Canal Company. Nationalized in... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Suez Canal- (Suez Canal), a 171 km long shipping canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea at Port Said with the Red Sea. Opened in 1869. Purchased by England in 1875; from 1882 to 1955 the canal zone had the status of English. military bases. In 1956, Egypt nationalized... ... The World History
SUEZ CANAL- a canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean and is of significant importance for international shipping. The legal regime of the canal is determined by the Constantinople Convention of 1888, which provides that in both military and peaceful... ... Legal encyclopedia
Look at the news I read this morning: Egyptian military foils terrorist attack on Suez Canal
Egyptian authorities reported that they managed to prevent a terrorist attack on the Suez Canal. The criminals were planning to attack the Panamanian container ship Cosco Asia to stop traffic along the waterway, Reuters reports.
The ship did not receive any damage; the military personnel sorted out the situation.
Officials did not say what type of attack the criminals were planning, but agency sources said they heard two explosions as the container ship passed through the canal.
Let's find out more about this object and why it attracts terrorists:
SUEZ CANAL, one of the world's most important man-made waterways; crosses the Isthmus of Suez, stretching from Port Said (on the Mediterranean Sea) to the Gulf of Suez (on the Red Sea). The length of this lockless canal, the main channel of which runs almost straight from north to south and separates the main part of Egypt from the Sinai Peninsula, is 168 km (including the 6 km length of the approach canals to its ports); The width of the water surface of the canal in some places reaches 169 m, and its depth is such that ships with a draft of more than 16 m can pass through it.
Canal route.
The Suez Canal Zone is considered a conditional border between two continents: Asia and Africa. The main ports of entry are Port Said from the Mediterranean Sea and Suez from the Red Sea. The Suez Canal runs along the Isthmus of Suez in its lowest and narrowest part, crossing a series of lakes and the Menzala Lagoon.
The canal crosses a low-lying area of sandy desert where the laying of its channel was favored by lakes Manzala, Timsakh, Bolshoye Gorkoye and Maloe Gorkoye. The water surface of both Bitter Lakes lies below sea level, but they had to be dredged because their depths were shallower than required for the canal. On the 38 km section from Port Said to El Kantara, the route passes through Lake Manzala, which is essentially a shallow lagoon of the Mediterranean Sea. The nature of the soil in the Suez Canal area made it easy and quick to carry out excavation work, and thanks to the flat terrain here - unlike, for example, the Isthmus of Panama - there was no need to build locks. Drinking water in the Isthmus of Suez region is supplied from the Nile through the Ismailia freshwater canal, which begins just north of Cairo. The Suez Canal Zone is connected to Cairo and the Nile Valley by a network of railways originating from the cities of Port Said, Ismailia and Port Tawfik.
Port Said
The first canals on the Isthmus of Suez.
The idea of digging a canal across the Isthmus of Suez arose in ancient times. Ancient historians report that the Theban pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom era tried to build a canal connecting the right branch of the Nile with the Red Sea.
The ancient Egyptians built a shipping canal from the Nile to the Red Sea ca. 1300 BC, during the reigns of Pharaohs Seti I and Ramesses II. This canal, which was first dug as a channel for the flow of fresh water from the Nile to the area of Lake Timsah, began to be extended to Suez under Pharaoh Necho II ca. 600 BC and brought it to the Red Sea a century later.
The expansion and improvement of the canal was carried out by order of the Persian king Darius I, who conquered Egypt, and subsequently by Ptolemy Philadelphus (first half of the 3rd century BC). At the end of the era of the pharaohs in Egypt, the canal fell into a state of decline. However, after the Arab conquest of Egypt, the canal was restored again in 642, but was filled in in 776 to channel trade through the main areas of the caliphate.
Drawing of the Suez Canal (1881)
Plans for the restoration of the canal, developed later (in 1569 by order of the vizier of the Ottoman Empire Mehmed Sokollu and by the French during Bonaparte's Egyptian expedition in 1798–1801), were not implemented.
During the construction of the modern Suez Canal, part of this old channel was used to build the Ismailia freshwater canal. Under the Ptolemies, the old canal was maintained in working order, during the period of Byzantine rule it was abandoned, and then restored again under Amr, who conquered Egypt during the reign of Caliph Omar. Amr decided to connect the Nile to the Red Sea to supply Arabia with wheat and other food products from the Nile Valley. However, the canal, the construction of which was undertaken by Amr, calling it “Khalij Amir al-mu’minin” (“canal of the Commander of the Faithful”), ceased to function after the 8th century. AD
At the end of the 15th century. The Venetians were studying the possibilities of building a canal from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Suez, but their plans were not put into practice. At the beginning of the 19th century. Europeans mastered the route to India through Egypt: along the Nile to Cairo, and then by camel to Suez. The idea of building a canal across the Isthmus of Suez, which would help significantly reduce the cost of time and money.
Napoleon Bonaparte, while in Egypt on a military mission, also visited the site of the former majestic structure. The ardent nature of the Corsican was fired up with the idea of reviving such a grandiose object, but his army engineer Jacques Leper cooled the commander’s ardor with his calculations - they say the level of the Red Sea is 9.9 meters higher than the Mediterranean and if they are combined, it will flood the entire Nile Delta with Alexandria, Venice and Genoa. It was not possible to build a canal with locks at that time. The idea was considered not feasible. In addition, the political situation soon changed and Napoleon had no time to build a canal in the sands of Egypt. As it later turned out, the French engineer was incorrect in his calculations.
The idea of building the Suez Canal arose again in the second half of the 19th century. The world during this period was experiencing the era of colonial division. North Africa, the part of the continent closest to Europe, attracted the attention of the leading colonial powers - France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain. Egypt was the subject of rivalry between Britain and France.
The main opponent of the construction of the canal was Britain. At that time, it had the most powerful fleet in the world and controlled the sea route to India through the Cape of Good Hope. And if the canal was opened, France, Spain, Holland and Germany could send their small-tonnage vessels through it, which would seriously compete with England in maritime trade.
Modern channel.
In the second half of the 19th century, another Frenchman, Ferdinand de Lesseps, was able to organize the construction of the Suez Canal. The success of this venture lay in the personal connections, irrepressible energy, and adventurism of the French diplomat and entrepreneur. In 1833, while working as the French consul in Egypt, Lesseps met Bartholémy Enfantin, who infected him with the idea of building the Suez Canal. However, the then Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali reacted coolly to the grandiose undertaking. Lesseps continues his career in Egypt and becomes a mentor to the ruler's son. Between Ali Said (that was the name of the son of the Egyptian pasha) and the mentor, friendly and trusting relationships began, which in the future would play a primary role in the implementation of the grandiose plan.
Ferdinand de Lesseps
The plague epidemic forced the French diplomat to leave Egypt for a while and move to Europe, where he continued to work in the diplomatic field, and in 1837 he got married. In 1849, at the age of 44, Lesseps resigns, disillusioned with politics and his diplomatic career, and settles to live on his estate in Chene. After 4 years, two tragic events occur in the Frenchman’s life - one of his sons and his wife die. Staying in his estate becomes unbearable torment for Lesseps. And suddenly fate gives him another chance to return to active work. In 1854, his old friend Ali Said became the Khedive of Egypt, who called Ferdinand to his place. All the Frenchman’s thoughts and aspirations are now occupied only with the canal. Said Pasha, without much delay, gives the go-ahead for the construction of the canal and promises to help with cheap labor. All that remains is to find money to finance construction, draw up a project and resolve some diplomatic delays with the nominal ruler of Egypt - the Turkish Sultan.
Returning to his homeland, Ferdinand Lesseps contacts his old acquaintance Anfontaine, who all these many years with his like-minded people has been working on the project and estimate of the Suez Canal. The former diplomat manages to convince them to pass on their work, promising to include Enfontaine and his comrades among the founders of the channel in the future. Ferdinand never kept his promise.
The canal project is in his pocket and Ferdinand Lesseps rushes in search of money - the first thing he does is visit England. But in Foggy Albion they reacted coolly to this idea - the mistress of the seas was already making huge profits from trade with India and she did not need competitors in this matter. The United States and other European countries also did not support the French adventure. And then Ferdinand Lesseps takes a risky step - he begins the free sale of shares of the Suez Canal Company at 500 francs per security. A wide advertising campaign is being carried out in Europe; its organizer is also trying to play on the patriotism of the French, calling for them to beat England. But the financial tycoons did not dare to get involved in such a dubious undertaking. In England, Prussia and Austria, a ban on the sale of company shares was generally introduced. The UK is conducting anti-PR for the French adventurous project, calling it a soap bubble.
Suddenly, the French middle class - lawyers, officials, teachers, officers, merchants and moneylenders - believed in the success of this risky enterprise. The shares began to sell like hot cakes. A total of 400 thousand shares were sold, of which 52% were bought in France, and 44% were purchased by an old friend Said Pasha. In total, the company's share capital amounted to 200 million francs, or in terms of 3 billion modern dollars. The Suez Canal Company received huge benefits - the right to build and operate the canal for 99 years, tax exemption for 10 years, 75% of future profits. The remaining 15% of the profits went to Egypt, 10% went to the founders.
In 1854, the French diplomat and businessman Ferdinand Marie Lesseps, taking advantage of the growing influence of France in Egypt and personal connections, received a concession from the Egyptian ruler to build the Suez Canal on preferential terms. The construction of the canal was led by the Universal Suez Canal Company (La Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez), created by Lesseps.
The company began financing the construction of the canal. Only the British, who benefited most from the fastest route to India, did not buy a single share, although the canal shortened the distance between London and Bombay by 7343 km. The British government did everything to prevent this project. It condemned it as physically impossible, too expensive and unprofitable, believing that the water would immediately be absorbed by the hot sands of the desert, and in Lesseps’ calculations there was a gross geodetic error, because the level of the Red Sea is 9 meters higher than the level of the Mediterranean, and the civilization of Europe will perish under water . Then this opinion changed to the idea that the channel would turn into a stinking puddle. Meanwhile, the British quickly laid the rails of the railway right next to the future canal.
The British extended the rails from Cairo to Suez in 1859.
Construction of the canal began in April 1859 and lasted more than 10 years and cost the lives of 120 thousand workers.
The main work on the Suez Canal was carried out by Egyptians, who were forcibly recruited at a rate of 60 thousand people per month. Many of them died from overwork and epidemics. It was only when labor-intensive operations were mechanized that workers from Europe began to arrive here. However, the work took place in difficult desert conditions, and drinking water was delivered many kilometers away on camels and donkeys.
Each person’s daily norm was two cubic meters of earth, which was pulled out from the bed of the future canal in gunny bags or baskets. The only thing that the advanced science of Europe gave the workers was the first version of the excavator, which the Europeans themselves looked at as if it were a miracle. On the Mediterranean Sea, where the canal began, Port Said literally arose out of nowhere. It is built on a pier that protects the canal from silt. The length of the pier is 7 km (this is the longest pier in the world). From there, 25,000 workers traveled south to work sites until a special fresh water canal was built by 1863, finally allowing camps to be set up along the entire route. The length of the finished canal was 163 km. A reserve bay was dug every 10 km.
Until a canal with drinking water was dug along the future route, the canal was laid from north to south, and only with the improvement of working conditions did it become possible to continue work in both directions. Although 25 thousand people were simultaneously working on this construction site, the work went on for many years, and all this time Lesseps personally supervised each site.
At the same time, a freshwater canal was being laid from Cairo to Ismailia.
Construction continued continuously for three years until Britain intervened. London put pressure on Istanbul, and the Turkish Sultan put pressure on Said Pasha. Everything stopped and the company was threatened with complete collapse.
And here personal connections again played a role. Lesseps's cousin Eugenie was married to the French emperor. Ferdinand Lesseps had previously wanted to enlist the support of Napoleon III, but he was not particularly willing to help. For the time being. But since the shareholders of the Suez Canal Company included thousands of French citizens, its collapse would lead to social upheaval in France. But this was not in the interests of the French emperor and he forced the Egyptian pasha to change his decision.
By 1863, the company built an auxiliary canal from the Nile to the city of Ismailia to supply fresh water. In the same 1863, Said Pasha dies and Ismail Pasha comes to power in Egypt, demanding that the terms of cooperation be reconsidered. In July 1864, an arbitration tribunal under the leadership of Napoleon III considered the case and decided that Egypt should pay compensation to the Suez Canal Company - 38 million was due for the abolition of forced labor of Egyptian fellahs, 16 million for the construction of a fresh water canal and 30 million for the seizure lands granted to the Suez Canal Company by the former ruler Said Pasha.
To further finance construction, several bond issues had to be issued. The total cost of the canal rose from 200 million francs at the start of construction to 475 million by 1872, reaching 576 million francs in 1892. It should be noted that the then French franc was backed by 0.29 grams of gold. At current gold prices (about $1,600 per troy ounce), a 19th-century French franc is equal to 15 21st-century American dollars. 
The opening of the Suez Canal took place on November 17, 1869 in Ismailia and was of international significance.
The canal has become a symbol of Egypt's intentions to take its rightful place in the world, a symbol of a modern country located on the border between East and West. Ismail Pasha, who became the Khedive of Egypt after the death of Muhammad Said, invited all the crowned heads of the civilized world, artists and scientists to celebrate the event that changed the map of the world. Among the guests were the French Empress Eugenie, the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, the Dutch prince and princess, the Prussian prince, writers Emile Zola, Théophile Gautier, Henrik Ibsen. Russia also did not remain indifferent to this important event. The celebrations were attended by Count Nikolai Ignatiev, Ambassador to Turkey, writer Vladimir Sollogub, artist Aivazovsky and other famous compatriots. For 6,000 guests, 500 cooks and 1,000 footmen were invited. 48 flag-decorated ships arrived at Port Said, and then this powerful flotilla moved through the canal. Many people from different countries crowded on the shore of Lake Timsah. At half past five a ship appeared under the French flag. From aboard the ship, the French Empress Eugenie and Ferdinand de Lesseps greeted the people who met them. "Eagle" is the first ship to sail through the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.
29,725 thousand pounds sterling were spent on its construction. The initial depth of the fairway was 7.94 m, and its width along the bottom was 21 m; later, the canal was deepened so much that ships with a draft of up to 10.3 m began to pass through it. After the nationalization of the canal by Egypt (in 1956), work was carried out to further improve it, and in 1981 ships with a draft of up to 16.1 m began to pass through it.
The enormous costs of constructing the canal complicated Egypt's economic situation.
According to the original terms of this treaty, the Egyptian government was to receive 15% of the gross profits from shipping on the canal, and 99 years after the canal was commissioned, it was to become Egyptian property. Most of the shares were purchased by the French, the Turks and Said Pasha, who bought almost half of all shares. In 1875, Disraeli, Prime Minister of Great Britain, bought 176,602 shares of the Company from Khedive Ismail for £4 million, giving Great Britain a 44% stake.
In 1880, the Egyptian government was forced to sell its right to 15% of the profits from the Suez Canal. Egypt was excluded from managing the canal and sharing in the profits. After the occupation of Egypt by British troops in 1882, the canal became the main British military base in the Middle East. In 1888, an international convention was concluded in Istanbul to ensure freedom of navigation along the Suez Canal.
The English light cruiser Euryalus passes the Sued Canal
The opening of the Suez Canal sharply escalated the Anglo-French struggle for Egypt, and the enormous costs of constructing the Suez Canal complicated the economic situation in Egypt.
Taking advantage of this, and the weakening of France after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, which forced it to cede a leading role in Egyptian affairs to Great Britain, the British government bought a controlling stake in the canal in 1875.
In 1876, joint Anglo-French control of Egyptian finances was established. However, during the Egyptian crisis of 1881–1882, caused by the rise of the patriotic movement in Egypt (the Arabi Pasha movement), Great Britain managed to push France into the background.
As a result of a military expedition in July–September 1882, Egypt found itself occupied by the British and became the main British military-strategic base in the Middle East.
Six years later, an international convention was concluded in Istanbul to ensure freedom of navigation along the Suez Canal, which is still the main document regulating navigation along the canal.
Great Britain established a protectorate over Egypt in 1914. In 1919–1921, the protectorate was abolished and Egypt was declared an independent kingdom.
However, the economy, foreign and domestic policies were controlled by Great Britain, and British troops were stationed in the country.
The July Revolution of 1952, organized by the Free Officers group led by Gamil Abdel Nasser, expelled the royal dynasty from the country. In 1953, Egypt was declared a republic. In 1956, British troops were withdrawn from Egypt and the Suez Canal was nationalized.
The nationalization of the canal served as a pretext for the Anglo-Franco-Israeli aggression against Egypt at the end of October 1956. The Suez Canal suffered significant damage, traffic along it was interrupted and resumed only on April 24, 1957, after the completion of the canal cleaning work.
As a result of the Arab-Israeli "Six Day War" of 1967, navigation through the Suez Canal was again interrupted, as the canal zone actually turned into a front line separating Egyptian and Israeli troops, and during the October 1973 war, into an area of active military operations.
The annual damage caused by inaction to the Suez Canal was estimated at 4-5 billion dollars.
In 1974, after the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Suez Canal zone, Egypt began clearing, restoring and reconstructing the canal. On June 5, 1975, the Suez Canal was reopened to navigation.
In 1981, the first stage of the canal reconstruction project was completed, which made it possible to carry through it tankers with a deadweight of up to 150 thousand tons (on completion of the second stage - up to 250 thousand tons) and cargo ships with a deadweight of up to 370 thousand tons.
In 2005, a new reconstruction of the Suez Canal began. The reconstruction plan includes deepening the channel, which will allow more than 90% of the existing international merchant fleet to pass through the canal. Since 2010, supertankers with a displacement of up to 360 thousand tons will be able to navigate the canal. Today, the length of the canal itself is 162.25 km, with sea approaches from Port Said to Port Taufiq - 190.25 km. Width at a depth of 11 meters is 200–210 m. Depth along the fairway is 22.5 m.
Currently About 10% of all global maritime transport occurs through the Suez Canal. On average, 48 ships pass through the Suez Canal per day, and the average transit time through the canal is about 14 hours.
According to existing rules, ships from all countries that are not at war with Egypt can pass through Suez. Operating rules prohibit the appearance of only ships with nuclear power plants.
Today, the Suez Canal is the main budget-generating project in Egypt. According to some experts, the canal provides the country with more funds than oil production, and much more than the rapidly developing tourism infrastructure allows today.
The monthly volume of fees for passage through the canal is $372 million.
In the 2007–2008 fiscal year, the Suez Canal brought Egypt more than $5 billion, which was a record figure in the history of the canal.
In the 2008–2009 fiscal year, shipping traffic on the Suez Canal fell by 8.2%, and Egypt's revenue from operating the canal fell by 7.2%. Experts explain this by the consequences of the global financial crisis, as well as by the actions of pirates off the coast of Somalia.
The role of the channel in world trade.
Thanks to the Suez Canal, the length of the waterway between Western Europe and India was reduced by almost 8,000 km. In the northern direction, it transports mainly oil and petroleum products for Western Europe. Industrial products for the countries of Africa and Asia are transported in the southern direction.
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Is 8,000 km a lot? And for commercial transportation, where every kilometer costs a certain amount? In this matter everything the secret of the Suez Canal. One of the most famous buildings in the world deserves close attention. 160 km avoids the 8,000 km route along the African coast. 86 nautical miles - and you get from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. From Europe to Asia.
Not bad? What would be their fate if they had this shortest route to rich India? What would Christopher Columbus do? Oddly enough, the Genoese had a chance to get to the coveted land of spices through the Arabian Isthmus. And despite the fact that the canal was opened only 145 years ago - in 1869, the history of the idea is much older and more interesting!
Birth of an idea
The ancient Egyptians quickly felt all the advantages of the geographical location of their country. The state that arose on the banks of the Nile could trade with Mesopotamia, Greece, and the countries of Africa and Asia with equal success. But there were also serious obstacles - the Arabian Desert, for example. Its endless sands separated the Nile, convenient for navigation, from the Red Sea. The people who built the Cheops pyramid and the Karnak complex simply had to think about building convenient shipping routes. Thus, under Pharaoh Merenre I (2285 - 2279 BC), to facilitate the delivery of granite from Nubia, canals were dug to bypass the rapids of the Nile.
The most interesting thing for you!
Speed is no longer needed
Pharaoh Senusret III undertook the construction of a full-fledged canal. However, due to the fact that all these events took place around 1800 BC, it is impossible to say with complete certainty whether the ambitious ruler succeeded in bringing his plan to life. According to some reports, Senusret carved a canal 78 meters long and 10 meters wide in granite rocks to facilitate navigation on the Nile.
Of course, given the level of technology, this is also solid. But the modern Suez Canal is an unattainable height. Some sources (Pliny the Elder, for example) claim that Senurset had much more ambitious plans - to dig a 62.5 mile (about 100 km) shipping canal between the Nile and the Red Sea. He did not do this most likely because the court engineers were unable to draw up a normal plan.
According to their calculations, the water level in the Red Sea was higher than the Nile, and the canal would “spoil” the water in the river. For obvious reasons, ancient builders could not use gateways. Later, the brilliant Fourier proved the error of the Egyptian calculations, and later, in practice, the builders of the Suez Canal confirmed it.
Suez Canal: forerunners
Only a thousand years later, Pharaoh Necho II (c. 600 BC) tried not only to repeat his predecessors, but also to surpass them! Unfortunately, detailed information about the Necho Canal has not been preserved, but it is known that the journey along it took 4 days. This route passed near the cities of Bubastis and Patuma. The channel was tortuous, since before the Red Sea it was necessary to go around rocks. 120,000 Egyptians died during construction (according to ancient authors, but this may be an exaggeration). Alas, the work was never completed - the priests predicted an unenviable fate for the canal and the pharaoh did not tempt fate and resist the will of the gods.
Why did the Egyptians try so hard to bring such a large-scale idea to life? In the 19th century, this was obvious - the Suez Canal was needed to immediately enter the Indian Ocean, and not to go around Africa. But the Egyptians hardly even went to the Arabian Sea. And life in the desert taught them to land campaigns and expeditions. What is the reason? It's all about expansionist policies. Contrary to popular belief, Ancient Egypt didn't just build pyramids and worship cats. The Egyptians were skilled merchants, good warriors and careful diplomats. And the territories of modern Somalia, Yemen, and Ethiopia were a source of valuable goods: myrrh, valuable wood, precious metals, aromatic resins, incense, and ivory. There were also completely exotic “goods”: Pharaoh Isesi, for example, rewarded his treasurer Burdida for bringing a dwarf from Punt to the ruler.
Egyptian rulers used the entire arsenal of means - trade, troops, diplomacy. But why not the land route? Why just kill 120,000 citizens and spend a lot of money? The thing is that from ancient times to the present day, sea transport remains the cheapest. Maximum autonomy, carrying capacity, speed - this is all about ships, not caravan routes. The Egyptians understood this and ideas for canals like Suez were constantly visited by pharaohs and scientists. But the priests ruined all the plans of the ambitious pharaoh. This project was completed, but by a completely different ruler - Darius I.
Persians, Greeks and Arabs
A hundred years after Pharaoh Necho II, it was Darius who completed the construction of the canal, attributing to himself, however, a little more perfect: “I ordered this canal to be dug from the river, which is called the Nile and flows in Egypt, to the sea, which begins in Persia. […] this canal was dug because […] the ships went from Egypt through this canal to Persia, as I intended.” In fact, the Persian king only cleared the silt from the path already built by the Egyptians and paved the rest of the waterway - this is how the “grandfather” of the Suez Canal arose.
But even here, not everything is so simple. The historian Strabo gives slightly different data: “The canal was dug by Sesostris [aka Senusret, 1800 BC. BC] originally before the Trojan War; some, however, claim that this is the work of the son of Psammitich [this son was the same Necho II], who just began the work and then died; Later, Darius I took over this task and inherited the work. But under the influence of a false idea, he abandoned the almost completed work, for he was convinced that the Red Sea lay above Egypt, and if the entire intermediate isthmus was dug, Egypt would be flooded by the sea. Nevertheless, the kings of the Ptolemaic family dug out an isthmus and made the strait a lockable passage, so that one could sail unhindered to the Outer Sea and return at will.”
This ancient author claims that Darius never completed the construction of the canal. Alas, ancient history is replete with such inconsistencies and it is hardly possible to point to a uniquely correct option. However, the participation of Ptolemy II (285 - 246 BC) in the construction of the canal does not raise any doubts. According to the recollections of contemporaries, the canal was so wide that two triremes could easily pass each other there (the width of such a ship is about 5 m), and these are respectable figures even for a modern structure. It was this ruler who completed the construction of the famous Faros lighthouse (one of the 7 wonders of the world), and in general allocated a lot of funds for the economic development of the country. After millennia, Egypt will become the birthplace of a new Wonder of the World - the Suez Canal.
After Ptolemy, the canal went to the Romans along with Egypt. Its next large-scale restoration was organized by Emperor Trajan. Later this path was abandoned and used only sporadically for local purposes.
Once again, the Arab rulers truly appreciated the capabilities of the canal. Thanks to the canal, Amr ibn al-As created an excellent route for supplying Egypt with food and raw materials. The trading function of the channel has changed in favor of infrastructure.
But in the end, Caliph Al-Mansur closed the canal in 775 due to political and military considerations. Without proper maintenance, the canal fell into disrepair and only some parts of it were filled with water during the annual floods of the Nile.
Napoleon. Where would we be without him?
Only a thousand years later, during Napoleon Bonaparte’s stay in Egypt, they started talking about the project again. The ambitious Corsican decided to restore the canal, because in the future he wanted to get an outpost between Britain and its colonies in India, and it would be a sin to miss such an element of infrastructure. The Suez Canal, its image, the idea - all this was invisibly in the air. But who could realize this technologically and economically colossal idea?
Having landed in Egypt in 1798, Bonaparte was able to easily defeat the Egyptian troops. Not expecting serious opposition from the Turks, he began planning the arrangement of the future colony. But the Ottoman Empire did not want to see a corps of 30,000 French in its south, so it turned to Great Britain for help. The Mistress of the Seas certainly did not want the strengthening of France, especially if it threatened her colonial interests. The brilliant Nelson managed to defeat the French at Aboukir.
Having lost the support of the fleet in the Mediterranean, Napoleon found himself in a trap and had no time for the canal. I had to save the soldiers and save myself. Meanwhile, the engineer Leper, whom Bonaparte brought from France, was drawing up a canal project. But he was ready only in 1800 - Napoleon was already in France, having abandoned the conquest of Egypt. Leper's decisions cannot be called successful, because his project was partly based on the old path laid by Darius and Ptolemy. In addition, the canal would be unsuitable for the passage of ships with deep draft, and this greatly affected the prospect of such a “short route” from Europe to Asia.
First steps to the Suez Canal
In 1830, Francis Chesney, a British officer, proposed the idea of building a canal across the Isthmus of Suez in the London Parliament. He argued that the implementation of such a project would greatly simplify the British route to India. But no one listened to Chesney, since by that time the British were busy establishing ground transport infrastructure on the isthmus. Of course, now such a scheme seems pointless to us, due to the difficulty and ineffectiveness of such an approach.
Judge for yourself - a yacht or ship that arrived, say, from Toulon, disembarked passengers in Alexandria, where they traveled partly by land, partly along the Nile to Cairo, and then through the Arabian Desert to the Red Sea, where they again took their places on another ship, which went to Bombay. Tiring, isn't it? What if we calculate the cost of such a route for transporting goods? However, Chesney's project was rejected, especially since in 1859 a direct railway across the isthmus was completed. Where is some Suez Canal?
In 1833, the French utopian movement of the Saint-Simonists became keenly interested in the idea of a canal. Several enthusiasts developed a construction plan, but Muhammad Ali Pasha (ruler of Egypt) was not in the mood to support such projects: at sea, Egypt had not yet recovered from the consequences of the Battle of Navarino, and on land it was necessary to fight the Turks. The time for the idea has not yet come.
Ferdinand was born in 1805 into the family of a diplomat, which, in fact, predetermined his career. At age 20, he was appointed attaché at the French embassy in Lisbon, where his uncle worked. At this time, he often travels to Spain and visits his cousin Evgenia. Her loyal attitude towards Uncle Ferdinand will still play a role. A little later, not without the help of his father, he received a place in the French diplomatic corps in Tunisia. And in 1832 he was sent to Alexandria, to the post of vice-consul. This is where the Suez Canal begins its history.
While still in France, de Lesseps became acquainted with the works of the Saint-Simonists and entered their circle. In Egypt, he had close contact with Barthélemy Enfantin, the head of the Saint-Simonist sect. Naturally, the ideas of reforming Egypt and large-scale construction projects could not help but visit the rather radical Enfantin. Moreover, at the same time, Muhammad Ali began to carry out pro-European reforms. Barthelemy was apparently sharing his thoughts with the young vice-consul. It is quite possible that he does this not only out of pure interest, but also because de Lesseps was successfully advancing in his career - in 1835 he was appointed consul general in Alexandria.
At the same time, another remarkable fact will occur, which will largely decide the fate of the channel: Muhammad Ali will invite de Lesseps to take care of the education of his son, Muhammad Said. Until 1837, Ferdinand worked in Alexandria, formally as a consul, but de facto also as a tutor.
During his five years in Egypt, Lesseps acquired connections among Egyptian officials and had a good understanding of local politics. Later, the Frenchman was sent to the Netherlands, and even later to Spain. In 1849, Ferdinand was part of the French diplomatic corps in Rome, where issues related to the Italian uprising were resolved. Negotiations failed, and de Lesseps was made a scapegoat and dismissed.
The former diplomat lived quietly on his estate, and in his free time he worked with materials that he collected during his stay in Egypt. He especially liked the idea of building a canal across the Isthmus of Suez. Ferdinad even sent the canal project (calling it the “Canal of the Two Seas”) to Abbas Pasha, the ruler of Egypt, for consideration. But alas, I never received a response.
Two years later, in 1854, Mohammed Said ascended to the Egyptian throne. As soon as de Lesseps found out about this, he immediately sent congratulations to his former student. He responded by inviting the former consul to Egypt, and on November 7, 1854, Ferdinand de Lesseps was in Alexandria. In his travel bag he kept the project for the “Canal of Two Seas”, hoping to show it to Said. The time for an idea has come.
Great schemer
In literature, de Lesseps is often called an adventurer and a cunning businessman. True, this is associated more with the construction of the Panama Canal, but it was also noted in the Suez project. The fact is that on November 30, 1854, Said Pasha signed a concession agreement on the construction of the canal (amended in 1856). The terms of the agreement proposed by Ferdinand were extremely unfavorable for Egypt. That is why he deserves comparison with the unforgettable Ostap Bender. But if you look at the situation from the point of view of the middle of the 19th century, everything falls into place. Europeans perceived Asian and African countries exclusively as colonies - already established or potential. De Lesseps was a diligent student and followed the European political paradigm. It is hardly appropriate to talk about injustice if it did not exist as such.
But what was in that agreement? What did Said Pasha miscalculate?
- All land necessary for construction became the property of the company.
- All equipment and materials that were imported from abroad for construction were not subject to duties.
- Egypt pledged to provide 80% of the required labor force.
- The company had the right to select raw materials from state mines and quarries and to take all necessary transport and equipment.
- The company received the right to own the channel for 99 years.
- The Egyptian government will receive 15% of net income from the company annually, 75% goes to the company, 10% to the founders.
Profitable? As for a colony - quite, but no more. Perhaps Said Pasha simply was not a good ruler. He also pursued reform policies, but he lacked his father's foresight. As a result, he gave the most valuable canal into the hands of European colonists.
Suez Canal, ready to go, attention... march!
The final design of the Suez Canal with all the necessary drawings and calculations was provided in 1856. Only two years later, on December 15, 1858, the Universal Suez Ship Canal Company was founded. Before proceeding with the actual construction of the canal, the company had to receive financial support - for this Ferdinand began issuing shares.
In total, he issued 400,000 securities that had to be sold to someone. Lesseps first tried to attract the British, but received nothing but ridicule and a ban on the sale of shares in the Suez Canal Company. The conservatism of the British played against them this time. By relying on the railway across the Arabian Isthmus, they missed a wonderful shipping route. In Austria and Prussia, the idea also did not become popular.
But in their native France, the shares went off with a bang - the middle class was actively buying securities at 500 francs apiece, hoping to receive good dividends in the future. Said Pasha bought 44% of the shares, and another 24,000 were sold to the Russian Empire. As a result, the company's fund amounted to 200,000 francs (approximate rate: 1 1858 franc = 15 2011 US dollars). On April 25, 1859, construction work began on the site of the future Port Said.
Construction of the Suez Canal lasted ten years. There is no exact estimate of the number of workers involved. According to various sources, the canal was built by 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 people. Of these, several tens of thousands (or hundreds, no one counted) died. The main reason for this was backbreaking labor and terrible unsanitary conditions. What can we talk about if a normal canal to provide the construction with fresh water was built only in 1863! Before this, 1,600 camels delivered water on regular “flights”.
Interestingly, Great Britain actively opposed the use of, in fact, forced labor on the Suez Canal. But do not be deceived by the politicians of Foggy Albion - they were not led by philanthropy. After all, the British did not hesitate to use the Egyptians in exactly the same way when laying their railway (Lesseps wrote about this with indignation in a letter to the British government). It was all about economic interests - the Suez Canal seriously facilitated shipping between Europe and India, the richest colony of the British. That is why London constantly put pressure on the Turkish Sultan and France, not allowing the company to work calmly. It got to the point that the Bedouins hired by the British tried to start an uprising among the canal builders! The Turks and French did not want to quarrel with Britain, since they had recently fought together against Russia and they did not want to lose such a powerful ally.
In 1863, Said Pasha died, and Ismail Pasha ascended to the Egyptian throne. The new ruler wanted to revise the concession agreement and construction almost stopped. A serious threat hangs over the Suez Canal. But Ferdinand de Lesseps was a diplomat, albeit not a brilliant one. And what is a diplomat without an ace up his sleeve? Ferdinand addresses Napoleon III, although not directly, but through his niece Eugenie, the wife of the French emperor. An arbitration court led by Napoleon revised the terms of the agreement and returned the lands that had passed to the company to the Egyptian state. In addition, duty benefits and the company’s right to attract peasants to construction were abolished. But here, too, the company benefited - as compensation for changing the terms of the agreement, Egypt paid the company 3.326 million Egyptian pounds in 1866 and 1.2 million in 1869. But the most important thing is that the Suez Canal has begun to be built! The ideological inspirer Lesseps himself participated in the opening - on April 25, 1859, the project got off the ground.
16 km/year
Lesseps planned to build the canal in 6 years, but the work was enough for all 10. Due to a lack of technical means, the work progressed rather slowly. Manual labor by unskilled workers in desert conditions is not the best way to build giant canals. But we had to be content with what we had. At the final stage, excavators were used, which significantly speeded up the work.
Lesseps mentioned that in one month sixty of these machines extracted 2 million m3 of earth. In total, according to the Suez Canal Administration, the volume of excavation work was about 75 million m3 of land. Why is there such a discrepancy in the data? It is easy to calculate that if earthmoving machines worked on the Suez Canal for all 10 years, 240 million m3 could be extracted. The fact is that the company only acquired truly modern technical equipment at the end of construction.
The Suez Canal began at the Mediterranean Sea, then in a straight line to Lake Timsah and the dry Bitter Lakes. From there the final section went to the Red Sea, to the city of Suez. Interestingly, Port Said was founded as a construction settlement in 1859. Now it is a large city with a population of half a million, which plays an important role in servicing the Suez Canal.
In 1869 the work was completed. The Suez Canal was preparing to open. It really was a technological breakthrough - the length of the new canal was 164 km, width 60-110 m along the water surface and 22 m along the bottom, depth 8 m. There were no locks, which greatly simplified the construction. Despite the fact that the canal was formally built, permanent work on deepening and widening, by and large, never stopped - the canal was not suitable for large ships. Often, in order to avoid each other, one of the ships moored at a special pier (they were built every 10 km) and let the other pass.
But these are all particulars. The main thing is that Lesseps and his company proved that it is possible to build a canal across the Arabian Isthmus. Ismail Pasha organized grandiose celebrations in honor of the opening of the Suez Canal - more than 20 million francs were spent (these extravagant expenses, by the way, hit the country’s budget hard)! The highlight of the program was supposed to be the opera “Aida,” commissioned from Verdi, but the composer did not have time to write it, so the guests “settled” for a luxurious ball.
Among the guests were representatives of royal families from Austria, Prussia, the Netherlands, and Lesseps's beloved niece Eugenia. Russia was represented by the ambassador and famous marine painter Aivazovsky. Celebrations were planned for November 16, 1869, and on November 17 the Suez Canal was opened!
The Suez Canal is more important every year
In 1869, the famous clipper ship Cutty Sark was launched on the River Clyde. Ironically, the same year the Suez Canal, the “killer” of high-speed clipper ships, was opened. Now there was no need for these swift beauties - the squat cargo ships managed to transport more cargo in the same time thanks to Lesseps' creation.
But the Suez Canal is not only about poetry, it is also about politics. Soon after the first flights, the British realized what a tidbit they had missed. Probably, the proud sons of Albion would have remained with their noses, if not for the lack of basic financier skills of Ismail Pasha. The love of the ruler’s exorbitant luxury in everything (remember that same celebration in Port Said) seriously undermined Egypt’s financial position. In 1875, all 44% of the shares owned by Ismail Pasha (they passed to him from Said, his predecessor) were bought by Great Britain for 4 million pounds sterling (if this amount is converted into the 2013 pound, we get 85.9 million pounds). The company became, in fact, a Franco-British enterprise.
The importance of the Suez Canal is very clearly illustrated by the 1888 agreement. Then nine great European states (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Turkey, France, Spain, Italy) signed a convention to ensure free navigation along the canal. The canal was open to all merchant and military vessels at any time. It was forbidden to block the canal or conduct military operations in it. If in a war where there are no rules, the inviolability of this highway was so respected, one can imagine what an important role he played.
With each subsequent year, the load on the Suez Canal constantly increased; it was the most important element of infrastructure, which made it possible to get from the Mediterranean Sea to Asia in a couple of weeks. The Egyptians were removed from the management of the canal, and all key positions were occupied by the French and British. Of course, this situation greatly affected the sense of national identity of the Egyptians. But this resulted in open conflict only in the middle of the twentieth century.
Before World War II (in 1936), the British won the right to keep troops at the canal to protect it. During the war, the Allies lay down their bones, but held the defense at El Alamein, trying to prevent Rommel from reaching the Suez Canal. It was truly a strategic facility that covered Middle Eastern oil and Asia. But after the war, the importance of the canal changed seriously. Colonial empires faded into oblivion, but oil exports increased many times over. In addition, the atmosphere in the Arab world began to heat up in connection with the proclamation of the Israeli state.
In 1956, a British-French landing force occupied Port Said. At the same time, the Israeli army was advancing on Egypt from the north. The reason for the invasion of European troops was an attempt by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser (hero of the anti-monarchist revolution of 1952) to nationalize the Suez Canal. Despite heavy losses and temporary closure of the canal (1956-1957), Nasser achieved his goal and the canal became a strategically important object for the Egyptian economy.
After the Six-Day War in 1967, the canal was closed for 8 years. In 1975, the operation to clear and demining the Suez Canal was carried out by the US and USSR Navy. The canal's downtime was a severe blow to the economy. And Egypt was able to survive it only thanks to the help of other Arab states.
For 8 years (1967-1975) 14 ships were locked in the Great Bitter Lake (through which the Suez Canal passes): they did not have time to leave the canal before the blockade. They were called the “Yellow Fleet,” as they say, because of the sand with which the decks were covered.
The new Suez Canal has already been dubbed the “Channel of Prosperity” by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. It is planned that the canal's capacity will double from 49 to 97 ships per day, and revenue from transit will increase 2.5 times by 2023. Now this amount is 4.4 billion euros per year. The Suez Canal is the second source of income for Egypt after tourism. However, experts believe that the volume of income will depend not so much on the channel's capacity as on the development of world trade.
The old canal, 193 kilometers long, took 10 years to build and was commissioned in 1869. The route from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea has been shortened by 9,800 kilometers. The new canal was planned to take three years to build, but President Fattah al-Sisi reduced the priority project to twelve months.
And on August 6, the new channel was inaugurated. The parade of ships was led by the President himself on an ancient royal yacht. French Rafale fighters and American F-16s, newly purchased by Egypt, were patrolling the air. According to Egyptian media, the president and high-ranking guests from around the world were guarded by about 10,000 police and soldiers in six provinces. The capital of Egypt, Cairo, and other cities are full of national flags and posters.
Two-way channel
What changed? The old channel was widened and deepened in many places to accommodate ships of larger tonnage. But the most important thing is that the second line, 72 kilometers long, has been built. Until now, ships in the canal could only miss each other in a few places. Because of this, they were often idle. The second line will reduce downtime from 18 to 11 hours.
All work cost, according to official data, 7.9 billion euros. The head of state decided that such a prestigious project should be carried out with Egyptian money. The government issued government loan bonds at 12 percent per annum. They were immediately sold out. During construction, it was not without the participation of American, German and other Western firms. However, the main work was carried out by the Egyptian army. The government intends to create an industrial and commercial zone on the banks of the canal and build a number of ports and ship maintenance centers. Egyptian authorities promise that thanks to the new canal, up to a million jobs will be created in the next fifteen years.
Environmentalists are sounding the alarm
The euphoria of politicians is not at all shared by environmentalists. In particular, Bella Galil, an employee of the Israeli Institute of Oceanography, fears that the canal will cause irreparable damage to the entire ecosystem of the Mediterranean Sea. Almost 450 species of marine animals have already entered the Mediterranean Sea through the old Suez Canal. Many invasive species reproduce quickly because they have no natural enemies in the new ecosystem.
Context
As an example, Bella Galil cites the cornet jellyfish. This species appeared in the Mediterranean Sea only in the 70s of the last century. The jellyfish is poisonous and contact with it may require hospitalization. Now it is found in dense carpets not only off the coast of Israel, but throughout the Mediterranean Sea. Special locks in the Suez Canal could in due time prevent its spread. Other ecologists, however, point out that alien species enter new ecosystems not only through canals, but also in other ways, for example, with the ballast water of ships.
