It opened on 17 November 1869 after ten years' work under a French diplomat-turned-promoter (1869)
Ferdinand de Lesseps; the Empress Eugenie led the opening convoy
Geography · Landmarks & wonders
The Suez Canal
opened 17 November 1869
Sea-level ship canal through Egypt — the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, with no locks
A sea-level ship canal of about 193 kilometres running from Port Said on the Mediterranean to Suez on the Red Sea, opened in 1869 and built without locks because the two seas stand at much the same level. It cut the voyage from Europe to Asia by thousands of miles. Nasser's nationalisation of the canal company in 1956 triggered the Suez Crisis, and the canal was closed altogether from 1967 to 1975.
How to spot them
- ▸A lockless sea-level canal through desert, opened 1869, nationalised 1956
- ▸Quiz clue: 'de Lesseps', 'Port Said', 'Ismailia', 'Great Bitter Lake', 'Yellow Fleet', 'Ever Given'
- ▸Shares its engineer with the failed French attempt at the other great isthmus canal
- ▸Britain bought the Khedive's shares in it in 1875 on Disraeli's initiative
Key facts
Disraeli borrowed from the Rothschilds in 1875 to buy the bankrupt Khedive's shareholding for Britain (1875)
Some 44% of the company, for about £4 million
Nasser nationalised its operating company on 26 July 1956, provoking an Anglo-French-Israeli invasion (1956)
The Suez Crisis; Eden resigned the following January
Fifteen ships were trapped in a lake along its course from 1967 to 1975, their decks turning yellow with sand (1967)
The Yellow Fleet, stranded in the Great Bitter Lake after the Six-Day War
A container ship wedged across it for six days in March 2021, halting some twelve per cent of world trade (2021)
The Ever Given
Unlike its Central American rival it needs no locks, because the seas it joins stand at nearly the same level
A sea-level canal, roughly 193 km long
A second parallel channel was opened in 2015 to allow two-way traffic along part of its length (2015)
The 'New Suez Canal', a 35 km parallel lane plus widening
Verdi's Egyptian opera was commissioned for Cairo and first staged there two years after it opened (1871)
Aida, premiered at the Khedivial Opera House in December 1871
Quick-fire facts
- •Length about 193 km, from Port Said to Suez, with no locks
- •Opened 17 November 1869; chief promoter Ferdinand de Lesseps
- •It passes through Lake Timsah and the Great and Little Bitter Lakes; Ismailia lies at its midpoint
- •Britain acquired the Khedive Ismail's shares in 1875 under Disraeli
- •Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal Company on 26 July 1956, leading to the Suez Crisis
- •It was closed from June 1967 to June 1975 after the Six-Day War; the stranded ships became the Yellow Fleet
- •The Ever Given blocked it from 23 to 29 March 2021
- •The parallel 'New Suez Canal' opened in August 2015
- •It allows Lessepsian migration — the one-way spread of Red Sea species into the Mediterranean
Drill it — 9 cards
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Sources
- Arab Republic of Egypt — Suez Canal Authority
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Suez Canal