GROUND BROKEN FOR SUEZ CANAL:

April 25, 1859

At Port Said, Egypt, ground is broken for the Suez Canal, an artificial waterway
intended to stretch 101 miles across the isthmus of Suez and connect the
Mediterranean and the Red seas. Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French diplomat who
organized the colossal undertaking, delivered the pickax blow that inaugurated
construction.Artificial canals have been built on the Suez region, which
connects the continents of Asia and Africa, since ancient times. Under the
Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt, a channel connected the Bitter Lakes to the Red Sea,
and a canal reached northward from Lake Timsah as far as the Nile River. These
canals fell into disrepair or were intentionally destroyed for military reasons.
As early as the 15th century, Europeans speculated about building a canal across
the Suez, which would allow traders to sail from the Mediterranean to the Indian
Ocean via the Red Sea, rather than having to sail the great distance around
Africa's Cape of Good Hope.The first serious survey of the isthmus occurred
during the French occupation of Egypt at the end of the 18th century, and
General Napoleon Bonaparte personally inspected the remains of an ancient canal.
France made further studies for a canal, and in 1854 Ferdinand de Lesseps, the
former French consul to Cairo, secured an agreement with the Ottoman governor of
Egypt to build a canal. An international team of engineers drew up a
construction plan, and in 1856 the Suez Canal Company was formed and granted the
right to operate the canal for 99 years after completion of the
work.Construction began in April 1859, and at first digging was done by hand
with picks and shovels wielded by forced laborers. Later, European workers with
dredgers and steam shovels arrived. Labor disputes and a cholera epidemic slowed
construction, and the Suez Canal was not completed until 1869--four years behind
schedule. On November 17, 1869, the Suez Canal was officially inaugurated in an
elaborate ceremony attended by French Empress Eugýnie, wife of Napoleon III.
Ferdinand de Lesseps would later attempt, unsuccessfully, to build a canal
across the Isthmus of Panama. He died in 1894.When it opened, the Suez Canal was
only 25 feet deep, 72 feet wide at the bottom, and 200 to 300 feet wide at the
surface. Consequently, fewer than 500 ships navigated it in its first full year
of operation. Major improvements began in 1876, however, and the canal soon grew
into the one of the world's most heavily traveled shipping lanes. In 1875, Great
Britain became the largest shareholder in the Suez Canal Company when it bought
up the stock of the new Ottoman governor of Egypt. Seven years later, in 1882,
Britain invaded Egypt, beginning a long occupation of the country. The
Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936 made Egypt virtually independent, but Britain
reserved rights for the protection of the canal.After World War II, Egypt
pressed for evacuation of British troops from the Suez Canal Zone, and in July
1956 Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the canal, hoping to
charge tolls that would pay for construction of a massive dam on the Nile River.
In response, Israel invaded in late October, and British and French troops
landed in early November, occupying the canal zone. Under pressure from the
United Nations, Britain and France withdrew in December, and Israeli forces
departed in March 1957. That month, Egypt took control of the canal and reopened
it to commercial shipping.Ten years later, Egypt shut down the canal again
following the Six Day War and Israel's occupation of the Sinai peninsula. For
the next eight years, the Suez Canal, which separates the Sinai from the rest of
Egypt, existed as the front line between the Egyptian and Israeli armies. In
1975, Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat reopened the Suez Canal as a gesture of
peace after talks with Israel. Today, an average of 50 ships navigate the canal
daily, carrying more than 300 million tons of goods a year.