the adventure of building the Suez Canal

The piercing of the Suez Isthmus, from 1859 to 1869, is the technical and political challenge taken up by the French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps: it brings about a real revolution in the economic life of the world, by bringing Europe closer to the ocean Indian and Pacific; since its opening, the Suez Canal has been a major strategic issue in relations between East and West.

The canal project connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, exists since Antiquity: the Egyptians carried out a fluvial junction between the Nile and the Red Sea which crosses the Bitter Lakes, from the 7th century BC; the Roman emperor Trajan had the canal restored at the beginning of the 2nd century. Around 645, the Emir of Egypt in turn carried out major repair work. In 1508, the Venetians plan a new piercing of theisthmus silted up, after the opening of the commercial maritime route of Cape of good hope, for the benefit of the Portuguese and then Dutch.

French Suez Canal projects

France dreams of a canal since Louis XIV and it is the Revolution which really poses the problem, since the piercing of the Suez Isthmus is on the program that the Directory give to Bonaparte, for his expedition from Egypt. On December 24, 1798, Bonaparte, accompanied by scientists Gaspard Monge, Claude Berthollet and other members of the Institute of Egypt, left Cairo in search of the "Pharaohs canal", rediscovered in January 1799. In 1801, a Dissertation on the communication from the Indian Sea to the Mediterranean by the Red Sea and the Suez Isthmus, recommends a route close to the old canal which joins the sea at Alexandria, using the branches of the Nile; the expenditure is estimated at 30 million francs and the duration from work to ten years.

In December 1854, an exploration of the isthmus between Suez and Lake Menzaleh (Mediterranean) was carried out by diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps and two engineers from the viceroy ofEgypt Mohammed Saïd, involved in the project as soon as de Lesseps presented it to him. In March 1855, the preliminary draft advocated a direct and locks, going almost in a straight line from Suez to Peluse in the Mediterranean. At the end of September 1855, in response to the smear campaign which the British press supported by his government, immediately launched against the project and its author, an "international scientific commission" was formed. On January 2, 1856, she voted unanimously for the project of Ferdinand de Lesseps, in a report addressed to the viceroy of Egypt.

On December 15, 1858, after four years of negotiations and all kinds of difficulties caused by English diplomacy, the "universal company of the Suez maritime channel" was formed, with a capital of 200 million francs, divided into 400,000 shares of 500 francs: 207,111 shares are subscribed in France, 15,247 abroad and 177,642 by Mohammed Saïd. The viceroy of Egypt allows Ferdinand de Lesseps to give the first pick, at the current site of Port Said, on April 25, 1859.

The construction period: 1859-1869

To lead the canal site in full desert, there is no labor available on site; the viceroy of Egypt proposes to call on the drudgery, traditional system which makes it possible to mobilize the peasants each year, for the maintenance of the channels dug along the Nile. Free labor will work by hand, digging the canal, in extreme conditions: it is estimated that several tens of thousands of workers died between 1859 and 1863.

The Britain denounces the use of drudgery andOttoman Empire demands that Ferdinand de Lesseps stop the work. In July 1864, it was the emperor Napoleon III which will bring its arbitration to a dispute which becomes international: it recognizes the authority of the new viceroy of Egypt Ismaïl, rejects the arguments of the English opposition to the channel and requires a French company to direct the works. The "fellahs" are replaced by foreign workers (Greek, Italian …) and an unprecedented mechanization effort is underway: the Suez construction site becomes a symbol of technical progress and constitutes a crucial stage in the history of civil engineering .

The Suez Canal completed

The Suez Canal is oriented from north to south, following the meridian 32 ° 20 'from longitude east, which passes very close to Port Said. Two ports mark its extremities: at its outlet in the Mediterranean, that of Port-Saïd created as well as the city of the same name, in 1860; to the south, at its outlet in the Red Sea, that of Port-Thewfik which is a dependency of the ancient Arab city of Suez. Halfway is founded the city of Ismailia in 1863, which serves as a residence for the company's management staff. The length of the canal is 161,150 km, the water depth of eight meters; it is without locks and level with the sea which enters it freely.

On March 18, 1869, the waters of the Mediterranean entered the great pool ; on August 15, the dyke retaining the Red Sea is cut and the waters of the two seas meet in the Amers lakes. On November 17, the canal was officially inaugurated in Port Said, in the presence of political figures from all nations. More than eighty vessels belonging to all the navies of the world, engage in the channel and after sixteen hours of effective navigation, drop anchor in the harbor of Suez, on November 20, 1869.

Theenergy Indomitable Ferdinand de Lesseps triumphed over all difficulties: it took ten years of work instead of the six announced to carry out the business and 400 million francs spent instead of the 200 million supposed at the start of the adventure, half being paid by Egypt. The British, after trying to prevent the construction of the canal, become the first users: the trip from London to Bombay (India) takes forty days by Suez, instead of four months bypassing Africa. In 1875, Egypt could no longer support its level of indebtedness, was forced to cede the capital it held in the Suez Canal, to England. This remains Franco-British until its nationalization by the Egyptian president Nasser in July 1956.

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