Suez Canal | Fact & Information

Suez Canal

The Suez Canal in Egypt is an artificial waterway. The canal connect; the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. It provides a shortcut route between the European and American ports and the ports in southern mi“ eastern Africa, and Oceania.

The Suez Canal is one of the most important waterways in the world. lt is often called the 'Crossroads of Europe, Africa, and Asia’ as it is used to transport goods to and from all three continents. The construction of the canal considerably reduced the distance between the continents. After the canal was completed in l869, the distance between lndia and the United Kingdom was shortened by almost 9,600 km.

Physical features

The Suez Canal is 161.6 km long. Over the years, the canal has been widened to handle the growing traffic. At the time of its construction, the canal was 8 m deep but now it is 19 m deep'lhe mitt'mtum bottom and surface width of the canal too has increased. Initially it was 22 m wide at the bottom and 70 m wide at the surface. Now the bottom is 92 m wide and surface width is 226 m. The canal an accommodate ships as large as 1,50,000 dead weight tonnes fully loaded.'lhe canal utilizes three bodies ofwaten-Lake Manzilah, Lake Timsah, and the Bitter Lakeflhe transit time is only 15 hours as it connects two points at sea level without any high ground. The traffic on most of the canal is limited to a single lane but two lane bypasses are also located in certain places.

History

The idea of constructing a canal to link the Mediterranean and the Red Sea dates back to ancient times. Canals were built to connect the two water bodies hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. Around 1800, one of Napoleon’s
engineers revived the idea of a shorter trade route to India through a canal on the Suez. The construction of the present Suez Canal was proposed by French diplomat and engineer, Vicomte Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps. Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps obtained permission for the project from the ruler of Egypt, Said Pasha, in 1854. In 1855, an international technical commission planned the route of the canal and the Suez Canal Company was formed to dig and operate the canal in 1858.

Construction

The construction of the canal began m 1859 and was completed in 1869 The canal was inaugurated during the rule of El Khedive Ismael on 17 November 1869 in an elaborate ceremony. During the construction of the canal, a total of 73.99 million cubic metres of earth had to be moved. The cost of the construction of the canal was about $65 million. Most of it was funded by the French.