Contents:
The historic documents suggest that the canal was extended, and several other attempts to build new canals were also carried out during these periods.
On the same day, the Secretary-General submitted his first report on the plan for an emergency international United Nations Force, in which he recommended certain preliminary steps, including the immediate setting up of a United Nations Command. Omran In such circumstances, the Secretary-General could have brought the matter before the Security Council by invoking Article 99 of the Charter, but he chose not to do so because he knew that with the United States and the Soviet Union firmly on opposing sides of the question, no action could be taken by the Council. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Before construction of the tunnels, vehicles headed to the Sinai had to wait for hours on the west bank of the Suez Canal to be ferried across the canal.
He believed that building a French-controlled canal on the Isthmus of Suez would cause trade problems for the British as they would either have to pay dues to France or continue sending goods over land or around the southern part of Africa. With the rise of new Europe and the development of industry and seaborne trade, entrepreneurs began to think of building canals. One such plan aimed at connecting the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Ocean directly, thus saving time either to sail around Africa or transhipping freight or passengers across the Suez Peninsula.
The next attempt to build a canal in the area occurred in the mids when a French diplomat and engineer, Ferdinand de Lesseps, convinced the Egyptian viceroy Said Pasha to support the building of a canal. In , the Universal Suez Ship Canal Company La Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez was formed and given the right to begin construction of the canal and operate it for 99 years, after which time, the Egyptian government would take over control of the canal.
The construction of the Suez Canal officially began on April 25, It was estimated that a total of 2, million cubic feet of earth- million on land and 2, million through dredging- would have to be moved for building the canal. Furthermore, the total original cost of the project was estimated at million francs. Britain continued to oppose the project until the Empire bought a 44 percent stake in the canal after the Egyptian government auctioned off its shares in due to financial problems.
Initially, the construction of the canal was carried out by forced labourers.
The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea The original canal featured a single-lane waterway with passing locations in the Ballah Bypass and the Great Bitter Lake. It contains no lock. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have The port later declined until the opening of the Suez Canal in of the Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.
It is said that thousands of people were forcefully assigned to dig the canal using picks and shovels until Pasha banned the use of forced labour in This compelled the Suez Canal Company to bring custom-made steam and coal powered shovels and dredgers to build the canal. With the help of this machinery, the project received the boost it required and allowed the waters of the Mediterranean flow into the Red Sea through the canal on November 17, When it opened for the navigation, the Suez Canal was to feet wide at the surface, 72 feet wide at the bottom and 25 feet deep.
At the time of completion, the total cost of the project was more than twice original estimates. After completion of the project, the Suez Canal had a significant impact on world trade despite the traffic through the waterway was below expectations in the initial years. Meanwhile, the financial problems linked with the construction of the canal allowed the British government to buy the stakes owned by Egyptian interests in to become the major shareholder in the Suez Canal Company.
The canal was vital to the British economy as it provided shorter sea route to its colonies and the oilfields of the Persian Gulf. Britain strengthened its control over Egypt in when the latter went bankrupt, allowing the banks in Europe to take control of the country financially. As the French and British continued their control over the country, it started resentment among the Egyptians.
This caused Brittan to invade Egypt in Though Egypt remained virtually independent due to the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of , Britain took complete control of the Suez Canal. During the First World War, Britain announced Egypt a protectorate and sent forces to protect the canal, and this lasted till when Britain provided nominal independence to Egypt. Though the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty declared Egypt as sovereign state , Britain only agreed to withdraw its troops from Egypt in It was only after the intervention of the United Nations, the three forces withdrew from Egypt, allowing the country to reopen the canal for commercial shipping.
The political unrest, however, continued for a long time to come and the canal was shut down by the Egyptian authorities in during Six-day War between Israel and Egypt. The closing of the canal also led to the stranding of 15 shipping vessels in the middle of the canal, at the Great Bitter Lake. These vessels, known as Yellow Fleet, remained trapped there till after Egypt reopened the Suez Canal after peace talks with Israel.
Since then, the canal remains as a significant transport link between the Mediterranean and Red Seas, allowing the international ships to avoid the difficult voyage around the southern tip of Africa. Data and charts, if used, in the article have been sourced from available information and have not been authenticated by any statutory authority. The author and Marine Insight do not claim it to be accurate nor accept any responsibility for the same.
The idea re-emerged on a number of occasions. The Republic of Venice considered it in the sixteenth century, before abandoning it for technical reasons.
But the true birth of the current canal dates back to Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt in Topographical measurements conducted by the scientific mission that accompanied the expedition laid the foundation for the first feasibility studies for opening up the isthmus. The plan was revived in by a scholarly society founded by Saint-Simonians, who were unable to convince Egypt.
In the end it was Ferdinand de Lesseps, a French diplomat who was very close to the Viceroy of Egypt, who obtained authorisation in to set up the venture that would build the canal and enjoy operating rights for a period of 99 years: the Suez Canal Company.
It saves ships from sailing around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope. Does this mean that the Suez Canal Company was a French undertaking? In terms of its capital, de Lesseps wanted international financing that would have included the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, among others. However, Britain looked unfavourably upon this project, which would create competition for trade with the East, and therefore refused to participate, as did the Ottoman Empire, of which Egypt was a part.
But Egypt went bankrupt in and had to sell its shares, which were bought by the United Kingdom, by then the canal's leading user. Digging a canal in the middle of the desert across a distance of kilometres was a colossal endeavour. Working conditions were quickly denounced as being close to slavery. So the canal was indeed dug by free manpower working by hand under direct sunlight, in conditions of extreme hardship: tens of thousands of the , fellahs mobilised between and are thought to have died.
Nasser would later mention , deaths, but there are no accurate archives to support this.
In the end, Napoleon III stepped in to arbitrate. Fellahs were replaced by foreign labourers from Greece, Italy, and Dalmatia, and unprecedented efforts at mechanisation were made, with investments to produce dredgers that could dig faster and deeper. The Suez project became a symbol of technical progress, and for that matter represents a crucial stage in the history of civil engineering. The canal was finally inaugurated in after ten years of construction, with lavish celebrations organised by the Viceroy of Egypt, who was proud of this showcase for Egyptian modernity.
It is estimated that tens of thousands of the , Egyptian peasants mobilised during the early years of construction died. Yet the honeymoon with Egyptian authorities would not last long Egypt began a colonial period that would last until the s, and at the same time lost all influence over the canal's management. The majority of skilled labourers were Greek and Italian, while the Egyptians held the lowest positions as unskilled workers. Is this why the Suez Canal Company was criticised for being a state within a state? The company, which employed thousands of people, created two cities from scratch, Ismailia — where its administration was based — and Port Said on the Mediterranean, while the small fishing village of Suez became a leading Red Sea port.
The architecture and lifestyle in all three were European. The firm had a highly paternalistic policy, subsidising schools reserved for French staff and those for Egyptians, as well as bringing missionaries for the Greek and Italian labourers. Although accounts from the period speak depict a multicultural melting pot and gentle lifestyle, historians are dubious, for while these cities were certainly cosmopolitan, they were also very compartmentalised socially and geographically. In Port Said, a city created from scratch by the Suez Canal Company, both the architecture and the lifestyle were European.
When did relations begin to deteriorate between Egypt and the company? But the true tipping point came in , when the United Kingdom withdrew from the country's internal management.
The company found itself alone before the Egyptian government, which asked for royalties for operating the canal, and demanded the firm's Egyptianisation in addition to the training of skilled Egyptian personnel, which French administration was reluctant to do. Tensions escalated, with rising discord between the company's foreign and local staff. So President Nasser's announcement of the canal's nationalisation on 23 July did not come as a surprise for the Suez Canal Company? Nasser had just been refused financial assistance from the United States to build the Aswan High Dam, so it was primarily a way of expressing his displeasure and recapturing a certain amount of financial leeway.
His decision was certainly brutal, although it is important to remember that the canal's concession was imminent, for according to the contract signed in , Egypt would take over its operation in The decision by President Nasser pictured here in Port Said in was of course a brutal one, although the end of the year concession granted to the Suez Canal Company was planned for By contrast, the Anglo-French military intervention a few months later was a dramatic turn of events!
They did everything they could from the s onwards to show that the Egyptians were incapable of operating it properly, hence their reluctance to train local pilots to steer ships from one end of the channel to the other. They instead offered Egypt an international administration, in which the French and British were of course prominent. Nasser refused, which is why the military operation of was planned.