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From Wikipedia, the Suez Canal

Suez Canal



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For other uses, see

Suez (disambiguation).




Suez Canal, seen from Earth orbit




Suez Canal, seen from Earth orbit







Ships moored at El Ballah during transit




Ships moored at El Ballah during transit




The Suez Canal (Arabic:
قناة السويس,

transliteration:

Qanā al-Suways), is a large artificial
canal in Egypt,
west of the

Sinai Peninsula. It is 163 km (101 miles) long and 300 m (984 ft) wide at
its narrowest point, and runs between
Port Said
(Būr Sa'īd) on the

Mediterranean Sea, and
Suez (al-Suways)
on the Red Sea.


The canal
allows two-way

water transportation, most importantly between
Europe and
Asia without
circumnavigation of
Africa.
Before its opening in 1869, goods were sometimes offloaded from ships and
carried over land between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.


The canal comprises seven parts, north and south of the

Great Bitter Lake, linking the

Mediterranean Sea to the
Gulf
of Suez on the
Red Sea.








Contents


[hide]


 


[edit]
History


 


[edit]
2nd millennium BC


Perhaps as early as the

12th Dynasty,
Pharaoh

Senusret III (1878
BC–1839
BC) may have had a west-east canal dug through the

Wadi Tumilat, joining the
Nile with the
Red Sea
(which in ancient times reached north to the Bitter Lakes. See

[1] and

[2]) This allowed direct naval trade with
Punt,
and, indirectly, linked the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.


The reliefs of the
Punt
expedition under

Hatshepsut depict sea-going vessels carrying the expeditionary force
returning from Punt. This has given rise to the theory that, at the time, a
navigable link existed between the Red Sea and the Nile.[1][2]


Evidence indicates its existence by the 13th century BC during the time of

Ramesses II (see

[3],

[4],

[5],

[6],

[7]).


Numerous geological surveys conducted since the mid-1960s have found no
physical evidence of any ancient man-made canal (as opposed to natural
tributaries) existing in the region and extending from the Nile to the Red
Sea.


 


[edit]
Repair by Necho, Darius I and Ptolemy


The waterway fell into disrepair, and according to the

Histories of the Greek historian
Herodotus,
about 600 BC,
Necho II undertook re-excavation but did not complete it. According to
Herodotus 120,000 men perished in this undertaking.

[8]


The canal was finally completed by

Darius I of Persia, who conquered Egypt. According to
Herodotus,
the completed canal was wide enough that two
triremes
could pass each other with oars extended, and required 4 days to traverse.
Darius commemorated his achievement with a number of
granite
stelae that he
set up on the Nile bank, including one near Kabret, 130 miles from Pie. The

Darius Inscriptions read:









“
Saith King Darius: I am a Persian. Setting out from Persia, I conquered
Egypt. I ordered this canal dug from the river called the Nile that flows
in Egypt, to
the sea
that begins in Persia. When the canal had been dug as I ordered, ships
went from Egypt through this canal to Persia, even as I intended.

[9]
”

It was again restored by
Ptolemy
II about 250 BC. Over the next 1000 years it was successively modified,
destroyed and rebuilt, until finally being put out of commission in the
8th
century by the
Abbasid
Caliph
al-Mansur.





Construction of the canal




Construction of the canal




 


[edit]
Napoleon considers repair


At the end of the 18th century while in Egypt,

Napoleon Bonaparte contemplated the construction of a canal to join the
Mediterranean and Red Seas. But his project was abandoned after a first survey
erroneously concluded that the Red Sea was 101 1/2 meters higher than the
Mediterranean, making a giant locks-based canal much too expensive and very
long to construct. The Napoleonic survey commission's error came from
fragmented readings mostly done during wartime, which resulted in imprecise
calculations.[citation
needed]





1881 drawing of the Suez Canal.




1881 drawing of the Suez Canal.




 


[edit]
Re-construction by Suez Canal Company


In 1854 and 1856

Ferdinand de Lesseps obtained a concession from

Said Pasha, the
viceroy of
Egypt, to create a company to construct a maritime canal open to ships of all
nations, according to plans created by
Austrian
engineer

Alois Negrelli. The company was to operate the canal by leasing the
relevant land, for 99 years from its opening, for navigation. De Lesseps had
used his friendly relationship with Said, which he had developed while he was
a French diplomat during the 1830s. The Suez Canal Company (Compagnie
Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez) came into being on

December 15, 1858.


The excavation took nearly 11 years, mostly through the forced labour of
Egyptian workers—a form of labour which was not unique to the French, nor the
British before them. Some sources estimate that over 30,000 people were forced
to work on the canal.

[10]


The British recognized the canal as an important trade route and perceived
the French project as a direct menace to their geopolitical and financial
interests. The British Empire was the major global naval force and its power
had increased during the

American Civil War. So the British government officially condemned the
forced work and sent armed
bedouins to
start a revolt among workers. Involuntary labour on the project ceased, and
the Viceroy soon condemned the slavery, and the project stopped.[3]


Angered by the British opportunism, de Lesseps sent a letter to the British
government remarking on the British lack of remorse only a few years earlier
when 80,000

[11] Egyptian forced workers died in similar conditions while building the
British railtrack in Egypt.


At first, international opinion was skeptical and the Suez Canal Company
shares did not sell well overseas. Britain, United States, Austria and Russia
did not buy any shares. All French shares were quickly sold in France. A
contemporary British skeptic claimed:

 









“
"One thing is sure... our local merchant community doesn't pay
practical attention at all to this grand work, and it is legitimate to
doubt that the canals receipts... could ever by sufficient to recover its
maintenance fee. It will never become a large ships accessible way in any
case."

(reported by German historian Uwe A. Oster)
”




One of the first traverses in the 19th century.




One of the first traverses in the 19th century.




The canal finally opened to traffic on

November 17, 1869.
Although numerous technical, political (due to the British rivalry), and
financial problems had been overcome, the final cost was more than double the
original estimate.


The canal had an immediate and dramatic effect on world trade. Combined
with the

American Transcontinental Railroad completed six months earlier, it
allowed the entire world to be circled in record time. It played an important
role in increasing European penetration and colonization of Africa


[citation
needed]. External debts forced Said Pasha's successor,

Isma'il Pasha, to sell his country's share in the canal for £4,000,000 to
the

United Kingdom (UK) in 1875, but France still remained the majority
shareholder.


The

Convention of Constantinople in 1888 declared the canal a neutral zone
under the protection of the British; British troops had moved in to protect it
during a civil war in Egypt in
1882. Under the

Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936, the UK insisted on retaining control over
the canal. But in 1951, Egypt repudiated the treaty, and by 1954 the UK had
agreed to pull out.


 


[edit]
Suez Crisis





Main article:

Suez Crisis



After the UK and the

United States withdrew their pledge to support the construction of the
Aswan Dam
due to Egyptian overtures towards the Soviet Union, Egyptian President

Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Canal in 1956, intending to finance
the dam project using revenue from the Canal, and cut off this vital
international waterway to all Israeli shipping. This provoked the week-long
Suez
Crisis, in which a

military alliance between the UK, France, and
Israel
invaded Egypt. To stop the war from spreading and to save the British from
what he thought was a disastrous action, Canadian Secretary of State for
External Affairs,

Lester B. Pearson, proposed the creation of the very first

United Nations peacekeeping force to insure access to the canal for all
and an Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai. On November 4th, 1956, a majority of
nations at the UN voted for Pearson's peacekeeping resolution, which mandated
the UN peacekeepers to stay in the Sinai Penninsula unless both Egypt and
Israel agreed to their withdrawal. The US backed up this proposal by putting
immense financial pressure on the British government which only then agreed to
withdraw its troops. Pearson was later awarded the

Nobel Peace Prize. As a result of damage and sunken ships, the canal was
closed until April 1957, when it had been cleared with UN assistance. A UN
force (UNEF)
was established to maintain the neutrality of the canal and the

Sinai Peninsula.


 


[edit]
The Arab-Israeli Wars of 1967 and 1973


In May of 1967 President Nasser ordered the UN peacekeeping forces away
from the canal and out of the Sinai Penninsula altogether. Despite Israeli
objections in the UN, the peacekeepers were withdrawn and the Egyptian army
marched to the border of Israel and again closed the canal to Israeli
shipping. This action was a key factor in the Israeli decision to launch an
all out attack on Egypt in June of 1967, and again to the Israeli capture of
the Suez Canal. After the

1967 Arab-Israeli war also called the
Six Day
War, the canal was closed until
June 5,
1975. In 1973,
during the

Yom Kippur War, the canal was the scene of
a
major crossing by the Egyptian army into Israeli-occupied Sinai, which was
followed by an Israeli counteroffensive which ended in the cutting off of the
Egyptian Third Army. Many pieces of sun-bleached destroyed military equipment
from this conflict can still be seen along the edge of the canal.


After a UN mandate expired in 1979, negotiations for a new observer force
produced the

Multinational Force and Observers (MFO), stationed in Sinai in 1981 in
coordination with a phased Israeli withdrawal. It is not there under UN
auspices
but under agreements between the US, Israel, Egypt, and other nations. (Multinational
Force and Observers).


 


[edit]
Operation





USS Bainbridge, an American warship in the Suez Canal






USS Bainbridge, an American warship in the Suez Canal




The canal has no
locks
because the terrain through which it passes is flat, and the minor difference
in sea level at the ends is easily coped with through the length of the canal.


The canal allows the passage of ships of up to some 150,000 tons

displacement, with cargo. It permits ships of up to 16 m (53 ft)
draft
to pass, and improvements are planned to increase this to 22 m (72 ft) by 2010
to allow passage of fully-laden

supertankers. Presently, supertankers can offload part of their cargo onto
a canal-owned boat and reload at the other end of the canal. There is one
shipping lane with several passing areas.


On a typical day, three convoys transit the canal, two southbound and one
northbound. The first southbound convoy enters the canal in the early morning
hours and proceeds to the

Great Bitter Lake, where the ships anchor out of the fairway and await the
passage of the northbound convoy. The northbound convoy passes the second
southbound convoy, which moors to the canal bank in a by-pass, in the vicinity
of El
Qantara. The passage takes between 11 and 16 hours at a speed of around 8
knots.
The low speed helps prevent erosion of the canal banks by ship's wakes.


Egypt's

Suez Canal Authority (SCA) reported that in 2003 17,224 ships passed
through the canal. The canal averages about 8% of the world shipping traffic.


By 1955 approximately two-thirds of Europe's oil passed through the canal.
About 7.5% of world sea trade is carried via the canal today. Receipts from
the canal July 2005 to May 2006 totaled $3.246 billion. In 2005, 18,193
vessels passed through the canal.

[12]


 


[edit]
Connections between the shores


From north to south connections are:



A railway on the west bank runs parallel to the canal for its entire
length.




 


 


[edit]
Environmental Impact


The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 created the first salt-water passage
between the Mediterranean and Red seas. The Red Sea is about 1.2 m higher than
the Eastern Mediterranean

[13], so the canal serves as a

tidal strait that pours Red Sea water into the Mediterranean. The

Bitter Lakes, which are hypersaline natural lakes that form part of the
canal, blocked the migration of Red Sea species into the Mediterranean for
many decades, but as the salinity of the lakes gradually equalized with that
of the Red Sea, the barrier to migration was removed, and plants and animals
from the Red Sea have begun to colonize the eastern Mediterranean. The Red Sea
is generally saltier and more nutrient-poor than the Atlantic, so the Red Sea
species have advantages over Atlantic species in the salty and nutrient-poor
Eastern Mediterranean. Accordingly, most Red Sea species invade the
Mediterranean biota, and only few do the opposite; this migratory phenomenon
is known as the

Lessepsian migration (after Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French engineer
of the canal) or Erythrean invasion. The construction of the

Aswan High Dam across the
Nile
River in the 1960s reduced the inflow of freshwater and nutrient-rich silt
from the Nile into the eastern Mediterranean, making conditions there even
more like the Red Sea, and worsening the impact of the

invasive species.


Invasive species originated from the Red Sea and

introduced into the Mediterranean by the construction of the canal have
become a major component of the Mediterranean ecosystem, and have serious
impacts on the Mediterranean ecology, endangering many local and
endemic
Mediterranean species. Up to this day, about 300 species native to the Red Sea
have already been identified in the Mediterranean Sea, and there are probably
others yet unidentified. In recent years, the Egyptian government's
announcement of its intentions to deepen and widen the canal, have raised
concerns from

marine biologists, fearing that such an act will only worsen the invasion
of Red Sea species into the Mediterranean, facilitating the crossing of the
canal for yet additional species[4].


Construction of the Suez Canal was preceded by cutting a small fresh-water
canal from the Nile delta along Wadi Tumilat to the future canal, with a
southern branch to Suez and a northern branch to Port Said. Completed in 1863,
these brought fresh water to a previously arid area, initially for the canal
construction, but then allowing the growth of agriculture and settlements
along the canal.
[5]


 


[edit]
Timeline



  • Circa 1799 — Napoleon I of France conquered Egypt and ordered a
    feasibility analysis. This reported a supposed 10 metre difference in sea
    levels, and a high estimated cost, so the project was set on standby.

  • Circa 1840 — A second survey demonstrated that the first one was
    erroneous; a direct link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea would
    be possible and would not be as expensive as expected.

  • Circa 1854 — The French consul in Cairo, Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps,
    created the "Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez".

  • 25 Apr 1859 — The French were officially allowed to begin the canal
    construction (Said Pacha acquired 22% of the Suez Canal Company, the rest of
    the shares were controlled by French private holders).

  • 16 Nov 1869 — The Suez Canal opened; operated and owned by Suez Canal
    Company.

  • 25 Nov 1875 — Britain became a minority share holder in the Suez
    Company, acquiring 44% of the Suez Canal Company. The rest of the shares
    were controlled by French syndicates.

  • 25 Aug 1882 — Britain took control of the canal.

  • 2 Mar 1888 — The Convention of Constantinople guaranteed right of
    passage of all ships through the Suez Canal during war and peace.

  • 14 Nov 1936 — Suez Canal Zone established, under British control.

  • 13 Jun 1956 — Suez Canal Zone restored to Egypt.

  • 26 Jul 1956 — Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal.

  • 5 Nov 1956 to 22 Dec 1956 — French, British, and Israeli forces occupied
    the Suez Canal Zone.

  • 22 Dec 1956 — Restored to Egypt.

  • 5 June 1967 to 5 June 1975 — Canal closed and blockaded by Egypt,
    against Israel, sparking the

    Six-Day War    .

  • 10 April 1975 — Suez Canal reopened.


 


[edit]
Presidents of the Suez Canal Company (1855-1956)


Before nationalization:



 


[edit]
Chairmen of the Suez Canal Authority (1956-Present)


Since nationalization:



 


[edit]
British Vice-Consuls of
Port Suez
(1922-1941)



 


[edit]
British Consuls of Port Suez (1941-1956)



 


[edit]
Governors of the Suez Canal Zone



 


[edit]
Supreme Allied Commander


During the
Suez
Crisis:



 


[edit]
Popular culture


A popular film, Suez was made in
1938 and starred

Tyrone Power as de Lesseps and

Loretta Young as a love interest. A sweeping epic, it is very loosely
based on history.


Suez Canal was recently featured in the video game

Battlefield 2142 made by
EA Games.
The

European Union and
Pan-Asian forces
fight each other for control of the canal after a futuristic
ice age.


 


[edit]
See also



 


[edit]
References




  1. ^ Eva Matthews
    Sanford, The Mediterranean World in Ancient Times, The Ronald Press
    Company 1938, p.72

  2. ^ Ervan G. Garrison,
    A History of Engineering and Technology: Artful Methods, CRC Press
    1998, p.36

  3. ^

    Le Fabuleux Destin Des Inventions : Le Canal de Suez    . TV documentary
    produced by ZDF
    and directed by Axel Engstfeld (Germany, 2006).

  4. ^ Galil, B.S. and
    Zenetos, A. (1981). A sea change: exotics in the eastern Mediterranean
    Sea, in: Leppäkoski, E. et al. (1981). Invasive aquatic species of
    Europe: distribution, impacts and management    . pp. 325-336.

  5. ^ "Suez Canal."
    Encyclopaedia Britannica 2014 Ultimate Reference Suite. (2014).



 


[edit]
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