Suez Canal is. Interesting facts about the Suez Canal

Suez Canal, one of the world's most important man-made waterways crosses the Isthmus of Suez, stretching from Port Said (on the Mediterranean Sea) to the Gulf of Suez (on the Red Sea). The construction of the Suez Canal was one of the most adventurous and revolutionary projects of the 19th century. As usual, at first few people believed in the success of the grandiose event. However, according to recent estimates, the operation of the canal annually brings the Egyptian treasury up to one and a half billion dollars in income.

History of the Suez Canal

The canal passes about 50 ships every day for various purposes, and more than 600 million tons are transported through the canal annually.

The Suez Canal turned out to be a very profitable project. It brings in $2 billion in profits annually. The minimum fee for which a small vessel can pass through the canal is 6-10 thousand dollars. The cost of passage of the canal by a large tanker or aircraft carrier reaches up to $1 million.

The Suez Canal (Arabic: ???? ??????, ?? Qana al-Suways) is a navigable lockless canal in Egypt connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The canal zone is considered a conditional border between two continents, Africa and Eurasia. The shortest waterway between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea region in the Atlantic Ocean (an alternative route is 8 thousand km longer). The Suez Canal opened to navigation on November 17, 1869. Main ports: Port Said and Suez.

Located west of the Sinai Peninsula, it is 163 kilometers long and 20 meters deep. The canal is located in Egypt between Port Said (Bur Sa"id) on the Mediterranean Sea and Suez (al-Suways) on the Red Sea. On the eastern side of the canal opposite Port Said is Port Fuad (bur Fuad), where the Suez Canal Authority is located. On the eastern side of the canal opposite Suez is Port Tawfik (bur tawfik). On the canal, in the area of Crocodile Lake (Timsah), is the third largest city in Egypt and a major industrial center - Ismailia.

The canal allows water transport to pass in both directions between Europe and Asia without going around Africa. Before the opening of the canal, transportation was carried out by unloading ships and overland transport between the Mediterranean and Red Seas.

The canal consists of two parts - north and south of the Great Bitter Lake, connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea.

According to the Suez Canal Administration, revenues from its operation in 2010 amounted to $4.5 billion. USA, making it the second most important source of budget revenue after tourism, which brought in $13 billion. In 2011, revenues already amounted to $5.22 billion, with 17,799 ships passing through the canal, which is 1.1 percent less than the previous year.

Perhaps as early as the Twelfth Dynasty, Pharaoh Senwosret III (1878 BC - 1888 BC) created a west-to-east canal dug through the Wadi Tumilat, connecting the Nile with the Red Sea, for unhindered trade with Punt.

Later, the construction and restoration of the canal was carried out by the powerful Egyptian pharaohs Ramses II and Necho II.

Herodotus (II. 158) writes that Necho (609-594) began to build a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea, but did not finish it.

The canal was completed around 500 BC by King Darius the First, the Persian conqueror of Egypt. In memory of this event, Darius erected granite steles on the banks of the Nile, including one near Carbet, 130 kilometers from Pie.

In the 3rd century BC. e. The canal was made navigable by Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247). He is mentioned by Diodorus (I. 33. 11–12) and Strabo (XVII. 1. 25), and is mentioned in the inscription on the stele from Pythos (16th year of the reign of Ptolemy). It began slightly higher up the Nile than the previous canal, in the area of Facussa. It is possible, however, that under Ptolemy it was cleared, deepened and extended to the sea. old channel, which supplied the lands of Wadi Tumilat with fresh water. The fairway was wide enough - two triremes could easily separate in it.

Emperor Trajan (98-117) deepened the canal and increased its navigability. It was known as the Trajan River and provided navigation, but was then abandoned again.

In 776, by order of Caliph Mansur, it was finally filled up so as not to divert trade routes from the center of the Caliphate.

In 1569, by order of the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed Sokollu, a plan was developed to restore the canal, but it was not implemented. He entrusted the preliminary research to a special commission headed by engineer Lepere. The commission erroneously concluded that the water level of the Red Sea is 9.9 m higher than the water level in the Mediterranean Sea, which would not allow the construction of a canal without locks. According to Leper's project, it was supposed to go from the Red Sea to the Nile partly along the old route, cross the Nile near Cairo and end in the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria. Leper considered it impossible to reach particularly significant depths; its channel would be unsuitable for deep-draft vessels. The Leper Commission estimated the cost of digging at 30-40 million francs. The project failed not because of technical or financial difficulties, but because of political events; it was completed only at the end of 1800, when Napoleon was already in Europe and finally abandoned the hope of conquering Egypt. Accepting Leper's report on December 6, 1800, he said: “This is a great thing, but I am not able to carry it out at the present time; perhaps the Turkish government will someday take it up, thereby creating glory for itself and strengthening the existence of the Turkish Empire.”

In 1841, English officers who carried out surveys on the isthmus proved the fallacy of Leper's calculations regarding the water level in the two seas - calculations that Laplace and the mathematician Fourier had previously protested against, based on theoretical considerations. In 1846, partly under the patronage of Metternich, the international “Societe d’etudes du canal de Suez” was formed, in which the most prominent figures were the engineers Frenchman Talabo, Englishman Stephenson and Austrian Negrelli. Luigi Negrelli, on the basis of new, independent research, developed a new project, which, however, in general terms was a repetition of the old one, Leperovsky. Around the same time, the French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps, without carrying out new independent research, but relying only on the research of his predecessors, came up with the idea of constructing a canal completely differently - so that it would be an “artificial Bosphorus” directly between the two seas, sufficient for the passage of the deepest waters. ships.

In the same 1855, Lesseps achieved the approval of the firman from the Turkish Sultan, but only in 1859 was he able to found a company in Paris. In the same year, construction of the canal began, led by the General Suez Canal Company created by Lesseps. The Egyptian government received 44% of all shares, France - 53% and 3% were acquired by other countries. Under the terms of the concession, shareholders were entitled to 74% of profits, Egypt - 15%, and the company's founders - 10%.

Its fixed capital was equal to 200 million francs (in this amount Lesseps calculated all the costs of the enterprise), divided into 400 thousand shares of 500 francs each; Said Pasha signed up for a significant part of them. The English government, with Palmerston at its head, fearing that the Suez Canal would lead to the liberation of Egypt from Turkish rule and to the weakening or loss of England's dominance over India, put all sorts of obstacles in the way of the enterprise, but had to yield to the energy of Lesseps , especially since his enterprise was patronized by Napoleon III and Said Pasha, and then (since 1863) his heir, Ismail Pasha.

The technical difficulties were enormous. I had to work under the scorching sun, in a sandy desert completely devoid of fresh water. At first, the company had to use up to 1,600 camels just to deliver water to workers; but by 1863 she had completed a small freshwater canal from the Nile, which ran approximately in the same direction as the ancient canals (the remains of which were used in some places), and was intended not for navigation, but solely for the delivery of fresh water - first to workers, then and the settlements that were to arise along the canal. This freshwater the channel is on from Zakazik at the Nile east to Ismailia, and from there southeast, along the sea canal, to Suez; channel width 17 m on the surface, 8 m on the bottom; its depth on average is only 2 1/4 m, in some places even much less. Its discovery made the work easier, but still the mortality rate among workers was high. Workers were provided by the Egyptian government, but European workers also had to be used (in total, from 20 to 40 thousand people worked on construction).

The 200 million francs determined by Lesseps's original project soon ran out, especially due to the enormous expenses on bribery at the courts of Said and Ismail, on widespread advertising in Europe, on the costs of representing Lesseps himself and other company tycoons. It was necessary to make a new bond issue of 166,666,500 francs, then others, so that the total cost of the canal by 1872 reached 475 million (by 1892 - 576 million). In the six-year period in which Lesseps promised to complete the work, it was not possible to build the canal. The excavation work was carried out using forced labor from Egypt's poor (in the early stages) and took 11 years.

The northern section through the swamp and Lake Manzala was completed first, then the flat section to Lake Timsah. From here the excavation went to two huge depressions - the long-dried Bitter Lakes, the bottom of which was 9 meters below sea level. After filling the lakes, the builders moved to the end southern section.

The canal officially opened to navigation on November 17, 1869. On the occasion of the opening of the canal, the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi was commissioned to perform the opera Aida, the first production of which took place on December 24, 1871 at the Cairo Opera House.

The canal had an immediate and invaluable impact on world trade. Six months earlier, the First Transcontinental Railway, and the whole world could now be circumnavigated in record time. The channel played important role in the expansion and further colonization of Africa. External debts forced Ismail Pasha, who replaced Said Pasha, to sell his share in the canal to Great Britain in 1875. The General Suez Canal Company essentially became an Anglo-French enterprise, and Egypt was excluded from both the management of the canal and the profits. England became the actual owner of the canal. This position was further strengthened after it occupied Egypt in 1882.

In 1888, an International Convention was signed in Istanbul (Constantinople) with the aim of creating a specific system designed to guarantee free navigation through the canal to all states.

During the First and Second World Wars, shipping on the canal was actually regulated by Great Britain.

On July 26, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the channel. This led to the invasion of British, French and Israeli troops and the start of the week-long Suez War in 1956. The canal was partially destroyed, some ships were sunk, and as a result, shipping was closed until April 24, 1957, until the canal was cleared with the help of the UN. The United Nations Peacekeeping Force (UNEF) was introduced to maintain the status of the Sinai Peninsula and the Suez Canal as neutral territories.

After the Six-Day War of 1967, the canal was closed again. During the next Arab-Israeli War in 1973, the Egyptian army successfully crossed the canal; Subsequently, the Israeli army carried out a “response force.” After the end of the war, the canal was cleared by the USSR Navy and opened for use on June 5, 1975.

The canal does not have locks due to the lack of sea level differences and elevations. The canal allows the passage of loaded ships with a displacement of up to 240,000 tons, a height of up to 68 meters and a width of up to 77.5 meters (under certain conditions). The head of the Suez Canal Authority, Ahmed Ali Fadel, said that the next stage of dredging work has been completed, and the depth of the canal is 66 feet (20.1 m). In the future, it is planned to provide passage for supertankers with a draft of up to 22 meters. Currently, supertankers can transfer part of the cargo to ships belonging to the channel, and get back at the other end of the channel. The canal has one fairway and several areas for ships to diverge.

The Suez Canal is one of Egypt's main sources of income, along with oil production and tourism.

The Egyptian Suez Canal Authority (SCA) reported that at the end of 2009, 17,155 ships passed through the canal, which is 20% less than in 2008 (21,170 ships). For the Egyptian budget, this meant a reduction in revenues from the operation of the canal from 5.38 billion US dollars in pre-crisis 2008 to 4.29 billion US dollars in 2009.

According to the head of the Canal Authority, Ahmad Fadel, 17,799 ships passed through the Suez Canal in 2011, which is 1.1 percent less than the year before. At the same time, the Egyptian authorities earned $5.22 billion from the transit of ships (456 million dollars more than in 2010).

In December 2011, Egyptian authorities announced that tariffs for cargo transit, which have not changed over the past three years, will increase by three percent from March 2012.

According to 2009 data, about 10% of the world's maritime traffic passes through the canal. The passage through the canal takes about 14 hours. On average, 48 ships pass through the canal per day.

Since April 1980, a road tunnel has been operating near the city of Suez, passing under the bottom of the Suez Canal, connecting Sinai and continental Africa. In addition to the technical excellence that made it possible to create such a complex engineering project, this tunnel attracts with its monumentality, is of great strategic importance and is rightfully considered a landmark of Egypt.

In 1998, a power transmission line was built over the canal in Suez. The line supports, standing on both banks, have a height of 221 meters and are located 152 meters from each other.

On October 9, 2001, a new bridge was opened in Egypt. Hosni Mubarak on the highway connecting the cities of Port Said and Ismailia. The opening ceremony of the bridge was attended by then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Before the opening of the Millau Viaduct, this structure was the highest cable-stayed bridge in the world. The height of the bridge is 70 meters. Construction lasted 4 years, and one Japanese and two Egyptian construction companies took part in it.

In 2001, traffic was opened on the El Ferdan railway bridge, 20 km north of the city of Ismailia. It is the longest swing bridge in the world, its swing sections are 340 meters long. The previous bridge was destroyed in 1967 during the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The opening of the Suez Canal was attended by the Empress of France Eugenie (wife of Napoleon III), the Emperor of Austria-Hungary Franz Joseph I with the Minister-President of the Hungarian government Andrássy, the Dutch prince and princess, and the Prussian prince. Never before has Egypt known such celebrations and received so many distinguished European guests. The celebration lasted seven days and nights and cost Khedive Ismail 28 million gold francs. And only one point of the celebration program was not fulfilled: the famous Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi did not have time to finish the opera “Aida” commissioned for this occasion, the premiere of which was supposed to enrich the opening ceremony of the channel. Instead of the premiere, a large gala ball was held in Port Said.

Suez Canal

Suez Canal- a lockless shipping canal in Egypt connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The canal zone is considered a conditional border between two continents, Africa and Eurasia. The shortest waterway between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea of the Atlantic Ocean (an alternative route is 8 thousand km longer). The Suez Canal was opened to shipping November 17, 1869. Main ports: Port Said And Suez.

Suez Canal on the map and view from space

Located to the west of the Sinai Peninsula, the Suez Canal has length 160 kilometers, width along the water surface up to 350 m, along the bottom - 45-60 m, depth 20 m. It is located in Egypt between Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea and Suez on the Red Sea. On the eastern side of the canal opposite Port Said is Port Fuad, where the Suez Canal Authority is located. On the eastern side of the canal opposite Suez is Port Tawfik. On the canal in the area of Lake Timsah there is a large industrial center - a city Ismailia.

The canal consists of two parts - north and south of the Great Bitter Lake, connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea.

The current on the channel in the winter months comes from the bitter lakes to the north, and in the summer back from the Mediterranean Sea. South of the lakes, the current varies with the tides.

The canal consists of two parts - north and south of the Great Bitter Lake, connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea

According to the Suez Canal Administration, revenues from its operation in 2010 amounted to $4.5 billion. The United States, making it the second largest source of revenue for Egypt's budget after tourism, which brought in $13 billion. In 2011, revenues already amounted to $5.22 billion, with 17,799 ships passing through the canal, which is 1.1 percent less than the previous year.

Story

Perhaps as early as the Twelfth Dynasty, Pharaoh Senusret III (1888-1878 BC) built a canal from west to east, dug through the Wadi Tumilat, connecting the Nile with the Red Sea, for unhindered trade with Punt. Later, the construction and restoration of the canal was carried out by the powerful Egyptian pharaohs Ramses II and Necho II. Herodotus (II. 158) writes that Necho II (610-595 BC) began to build a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea, but did not finish it.

In the 3rd century BC. e. The canal was made navigable by Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247). It began slightly higher up the Nile than the previous canal, in the area of Facussa. It is possible, however, that under Ptolemy the old canal, which supplied the lands of Wadi Tumilat with fresh water, was cleared, deepened and extended to the sea. The fairway was wide enough - two triremes could easily separate in it.

Emperor Trajan (98-117) deepened the canal and increased its navigability. The canal was known as the Trajan River, it provided navigation, but was then abandoned again.

In 776, by order of Caliph Mansur, it was finally filled up so as not to divert trade routes from the center of the Caliphate.

In 1569, by order of the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed Sokollu, a plan was developed to restore the canal, but it was not implemented.

Channel restoration

More than a thousand years passed before the next attempt to dig a canal. In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte, while in Egypt, considered the possibility of building a canal connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas. He entrusted the carrying out of preliminary surveys to a special commission headed by engineer Leper. The commission erroneously concluded that the water level of the Red Sea is 9.9 m higher than the water level in the Mediterranean Sea, which would not allow the construction of a canal without locks. According to Leper's project, it was supposed to go from the Red Sea to the Nile partly along the old route, cross the Nile near Cairo and end in the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria. Leper considered it impossible to reach a particularly significant depth; its channel would be unsuitable for deep-draft vessels. The Leper Commission estimated the cost of digging at 30-40 million francs. The project failed not because of technical or financial difficulties, but because of political events; it was completed only at the end of 1800, when Napoleon was already in Europe and finally abandoned the hope of conquering Egypt. Accepting Leper's report on December 6, 1800, he said: “This is a great thing, but I am not able to carry it out at the present time; perhaps the Turkish government will someday take it up, thereby creating glory for itself and strengthening the existence of the Turkish Empire.”

In the forties of the 19th century, 1841, British officers who carried out surveys on the isthmus proved the fallacy of Leper's calculations regarding the water level in the two seas - calculations that Laplace and the mathematician Fourier had previously protested against, based on theoretical considerations. Around the same time, a French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps , without carrying out new independent research, but relying only on the research of his predecessors, he came up with the idea of constructing a canal completely differently - so that it would be an “artificial Bosphorus” directly between the two seas, sufficient for the passage of the deepest ships.

Ferdinand de Lesseps

In 1855, Ferdinand de Lesseps received concessions from Said Pasha, the Viceroy of Egypt, whom de Lesseps had met as a French diplomat in the 1830s. Said Pasha approved the creation of a company for the purpose of constructing a sea canal open to ships of all countries. In the same 1855, Lesseps achieved the approval of the firman from the Turkish Sultan, but only in 1859 was he able to found a company in Paris. In the same year, construction of the canal began, led by the General Suez Canal Company created by Lesseps. The Egyptian government received 44% of all shares, France - 53% and 3% were acquired by other countries. Under the terms of the concession, shareholders were entitled to 74% of profits, Egypt - 15%, and the company's founders - 10%. Its fixed capital was 200 million francs.

The British government, fearing that the Suez Canal would lead to the liberation of Egypt from the rule of the Ottoman Empire and to the weakening or loss of England's dominance over India, put all sorts of obstacles in the way of the enterprise, but had to yield to the energy of Lesseps, especially since his enterprise was patronized by Napoleon III and Said Pasha, and then (from 1863) by his heir, Ismail Pasha.

Drawing from the 19th century depicting the auxiliary railway during the construction of the canal. Source: Appleton's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, 1869.

The technical difficulties were enormous. I had to work under the scorching sun, in a sandy desert completely devoid of fresh water. At first, the company had to use up to 1,600 camels just to deliver water to workers; but by 1863 she had completed a small freshwater canal from the Nile, which ran approximately in the same direction as the ancient canals (the remains of which were used in some places), and was intended not for navigation, but solely for the delivery of fresh water - first to workers, then and the settlements that were to arise along the canal. This freshwater canal runs from Zakazik on the Nile east to Ismailia, and from there southeast, along the sea canal, to Suez; channel width 17 m on the surface, 8 m on the bottom; its depth on average is only 2.2 m, in some places even much less. Its discovery made the work easier, but still the mortality rate among workers was high. Workers were provided by the Egyptian government, but European workers also had to be used (in total, from 20 to 40 thousand people worked on construction).

The 200 million francs determined by Lesseps's original project soon ran out, especially due to the enormous expenses on bribery at the courts of Said and Ismail, on widespread advertising in Europe, on the costs of representing Lesseps himself and other company tycoons. It was necessary to make a new bond issue of 166,666,500 francs, then others, so that the total cost of the canal by 1872 reached 475 million (by 1892 - 576 million). In the six-year period in which Lesseps promised to complete the work, it was not possible to build the canal. The excavation work was carried out using forced labor from the poor in Egypt (in the first stages) and took 11 years.

The total length of the canal was about 173 km, including the length of the canal itself across the Isthmus of Suez 161 km, the sea canal along the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea - 9.2 km and the Gulf of Suez - about 3 km. The width of the channel along the water surface is 120-150 m, along the bottom - 45-60 m. The depth along the fairway was initially 12-13 m, then it was deepened to 20 m.

Grand opening of the Suez Canal

The canal officially opened to navigation on November 17, 1869. The opening of the Suez Canal was attended by the Empress of France Eugenie (wife of Napoleon III), the Emperor of Austria-Hungary Franz Joseph I with the Minister-President of the Hungarian government Andrássy, the Dutch prince and princess, and the Prussian prince. Never before has Egypt known such celebrations and received so many distinguished European guests. The celebration lasted seven days and nights and cost Khedive Ismail 28 million gold francs. And only one point of the celebration program was not fulfilled: the famous Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi did not have time to finish the opera “Aida” commissioned for this occasion, the premiere of which was supposed to enrich the opening ceremony of the channel. Instead of the premiere, a large gala ball was held in Port Said.

Some of the first travelers in the 19th century

Economic and strategic importance of the canal

The canal had an immediate and invaluable impact on world trade. Six months earlier, the First Transcontinental Railroad had been put into operation, and the entire world could now be circumnavigated in record time. The canal played an important role in the expansion and further colonization of Africa. External debts forced Ismail Pasha, who replaced Said Pasha, to sell his share in the canal to Great Britain in 1875. The General Suez Canal Company essentially became an Anglo-French enterprise, and Egypt was excluded from both the management of the canal and the profits. England became the actual owner of the canal. This position was further strengthened after it occupied Egypt in 1882.

In 1888, an International Convention was signed in Istanbul with the aim of creating a specific system designed to guarantee free navigation through the canal to all states.

Aluminum pontoons of the Turkish army on the Suez Canal in 1915

During the First and Second World Wars, shipping on the canal was actually regulated by Great Britain.

On July 26, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the channel. This led to the invasion of British, French and Israeli troops and the start of the week-long Suez War in 1956. The canal was partially destroyed, some ships were sunk, and as a result, shipping was closed until April 24, 1957, until the canal was cleared with the help of the UN. UN peacekeeping forces were brought in to maintain the status of the Sinai Peninsula and the Suez Canal as neutral territories.

Suez War 1956

The canal does not have locks due to the lack of sea level differences and elevations. The canal allows the passage of loaded ships with a displacement of up to 240,000 tons, a height of up to 68 meters and a width of up to 77.5 meters (under certain conditions). Some supertankers cannot pass through the canal, others can unload some of their weight onto canal vessels and load it back at the other end of the canal. The canal has one fairway and several areas for ships to diverge. The depth of the channel is 20.1 m. In the future, it is planned to provide passage for supertankers with a draft of up to 22 meters.

According to 2009 data, about 10% of the world's maritime traffic passes through the canal. The passage through the canal takes about 14 hours. On average, 48 ships pass through the canal per day.

Second Canal (New Suez Canal)

In August 2014, construction began on a 72-kilometer parallel canal to allow two-way traffic for ships. Trial operation of the second stage of the canal began on July 25, 2015. The country's army actively participated in the construction. The population of Egypt participated in the financing.

On August 6, 2015, the opening ceremony of the new Suez Canal took place. The ceremony was attended, in particular, by Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi, who arrived at the event site on board the Al-Mahrousa yacht. This yacht gained fame as the first ship to pass through the old Suez Canal in 1869.

Opening ceremony of the new Suez Canal

The vessel is currently part of the Egyptian Navy, being the country's oldest active naval vessel, and is sometimes used as a presidential yacht. The ship goes to sea about three times a year, but usually only for one day. The yacht was built in 1865.

"New Suez" runs parallel to the old shipping route, built 145 years ago and is the shortest water route between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. New channel, like the previous one, will be state property.

Scheme of the new Suez Canal route

The Suez backup took only one year to build (although it was estimated that it should have been built in three years). The project cost Egypt $8.5 billion. The New Suez Canal project consisted of widening, deepening the current tract and creating a parallel tract. The new channel should increase the channel's capacity.

The goal of the project is to ensure two-way traffic of vessels. In the future, from south to north they will follow the old channel, and from north to south along the new channel. Thus, the average waiting time for ships while passing through the canal should decrease by four times, while its throughput will increase from 49 to 97 ships per day. The Suez Canal accounts for 7% of global maritime traffic.

Since 1981, a road tunnel has been operating near the city of Suez, passing under the bottom of the Suez Canal, connecting Sinai and continental Africa. In addition to the technical excellence that made it possible to create such a complex engineering project, this tunnel attracts with its monumentality, is of great strategic importance and is rightfully considered a landmark of Egypt.

In 1998, a power transmission line was built over the canal in Suez. The line supports, standing on both banks, have a height of 221 meters and are located 152 meters from each other. On October 9, 2001, a new bridge named after Hosni Mubarak on the highway connecting the cities of Port Said and Ismailia. The opening ceremony of the bridge was attended by then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Before the viaduct opened Milhaud this structure was the world's tallest cable-stayed bridge. The height of the bridge is 70 meters. Construction lasted 4 years, and one Japanese and two Egyptian construction companies took part in it.

Mubarak Bridge

In 2001, traffic on the railway bridge was opened El Ferdan 20 km north of the city of Ismailia. This is the longest swing bridge in the world, its two swing sections have a total length of 340 meters. The previous bridge was destroyed in 1967 during the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Construction of the Suez Canal.

Drawing of the Suez Canal (1881)

Maybe, back during the Twelfth Dynasty, Pharaoh Senusret III (BC - BC) laid from west to east a canal dug through Wadi Tumilat connecting the Nile to the Red Sea, for unhindered trade with Punt.

Later, the construction and restoration of the canal was carried out by the powerful Egyptian pharaohs Ramses II and Necho II.

Herodotus (II. 158) writes that Necho (609-594) began to build a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea, but did not finish it.

In the 3rd century BC. e. The canal was made navigable by Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247). He is mentioned by Diodorus (I. 33. 11-12) and Strabo (XVII. 1. 25), and is mentioned in the inscription on the stele from Pythos (16th year of the reign of Ptolemy). It began slightly higher up the Nile than the previous canal, in the area of Facussa. It is possible, however, that under Ptolemy the old canal was cleared, deepened and extended to the sea, supplying the lands of Wadi Tumilat with fresh water. The fairway was wide enough - two triremes could easily separate in it.

The technical difficulties were enormous. I had to work under the scorching sun, in a sandy desert completely devoid of fresh water. At first, the company had to use up to 1,600 camels just to deliver water to workers; but by 1863 she had completed a small freshwater canal from the Nile, which ran approximately in the same direction as the ancient canals (the remains of which were used in some places), and was intended not for navigation, but solely for the delivery of fresh water - first to workers, then and the settlements that were to arise along the canal. This freshwater canal runs from Zakazik on the Nile east to Ismailia, and thence southeast along the sea canal to Suez; channel width 17 m on the surface, 8 m on the bottom; its depth on average is only 2¼ m, in some places even much less. Its discovery made the work easier, but still the mortality rate among workers was high. Workers were provided by the Egyptian government, but European workers also had to be used (in total, from 20 to 40 thousand people worked on construction).

One of the first travelers in the 19th century.

Economic and strategic importance of the canal

The canal had an immediate and invaluable impact on world trade. Six months earlier, the First Transcontinental Railroad had been put into operation, and the entire world could now be circumnavigated in record time. The canal played an important role in the expansion and further colonization of Africa. External debts forced Ismail Pasha, who succeeded Said Pasha, to sell his share in the canal to Great Britain in 1875. The General Suez Canal Company essentially became an Anglo-French enterprise, and Egypt was excluded from both the management of the canal and the profits. England became the actual owner of the canal. This position was further strengthened after it occupied Egypt in 1882.

Present tense

The Egyptian Suez Canal Authority (SCA) reported that at the end of 2009, 17,155 ships passed through the canal, which is 20% less than in 2009 (21,170 ships). For the Egyptian budget, this meant a reduction in revenues from the operation of the canal from 5.38 billion US dollars in pre-crisis 2008 to 4.29 billion US dollars in 2009.

In December 2011, Egyptian authorities announced that tariffs for cargo transit, which have not changed over the past three years, will increase by three percent from March 2012.

According to 2009 data, about 10% of the world's maritime traffic passes through the canal. The passage through the canal takes about 14 hours. On average, 48 ships pass through the canal per day.

Connection between banks

Since April 1980, a road tunnel has been operating in the area of the city of Suez, passing under the bottom of the Suez Canal, connecting Sinai and continental Africa. In addition to the technical excellence that made it possible to create such a complex engineering project, this tunnel attracts with its monumentality, is of great strategic importance and is rightfully considered a landmark of Egypt.

The opening of the Suez Canal was attended by the Empress of France Eugenie (wife of Napoleon III), the Emperor of Austria-Hungary Franz Joseph I with the Minister-President of the Hungarian government Andrássy, the Dutch prince and princess, and the Prussian prince. Never before has Egypt known such celebrations and received so many distinguished European guests. The celebration lasted seven days and nights and cost Khedive Ismail 28 million gold francs. And only one point of the celebration program was not fulfilled: the famous Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi did not have time to finish the opera “Aida” commissioned for this occasion, the premiere of which was supposed to enrich the opening ceremony of the canal. Instead of the premiere, a large gala ball was held in Port Said.

Notes

Literature

Dementyev I. A. Suez Canal / Ed. acad. L. N. Ivanova. - Ed. 2nd. - M.: Geographgiz, 1954. - 72 p. - (At the world map). - 50,000 copies.(region) (1st ed. - M.: Geographgiz, 1952. 40 p.)

Links

V. V. Vodovozov// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional ones). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
The Suez Canal is 140 years old: the story of the creation of a 19th-century legend. RIA NEWS (November 17, 2009). Archived from the original on May 19, 2012. Retrieved November 17, 2009.

The thin blue line connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas is a waterway already familiar to everyone, which plays a huge role in the transport and economic life of the whole world. The name of this iconic body of water is the Suez Canal.

Suez Canal on a map of Africa

For many centuries, the Red and Mediterranean seas were separated by a 150-kilometer strip of desert, as a result of which water vessels heading the Atlantic-Indian Ocean were forced to make a huge detour around the African continent. With the construction of the canal, this problem was solved in the most rational way, because, in fact, the Suez Canal connects not just two seas, but entire parts of the world, saving huge reserves of money and fuel to cover the distance between the countries of Europe and Asia.

Ship sailing in the desert

The Suez Canal on the map of Egypt is also a conditional border between two continents - Africa and Eurasia. It passes along the Isthmus of Suez in its narrowest and lowest part. On its way, this lockless sea strait crosses several lakes and the Menzala Lagoon. The length of the canal is 163 kilometers, and its width varies in different sections (120-318 m). The canal reaches a depth of 20 m. Its extreme points are large ports (Mediterranean Sea) and Suez (Red Sea). Another significant settlement on the banks of this waterway is Port Fuad, the city where the administration of the Suez Canal is located. The canal is also home to such large Egyptian cities as Port Tawfik (opposite Suez) and the industrial center of the country, the city of Ismailia.

Ships sailing through the Suez Canal

Construction of the canal lasted 11 years and ended with a grand opening on November 17, 1869, which was attended by such famous historical personalities as Empress Eugenie of France, a Prussian prince, a Dutch prince and princess, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary, and Minister-President of the Hungarian government Andrássy and others. It must be said that this event had an unprecedented scale and splendor. The celebration continued for a week, celebratory performances and fireworks continued day and night, and the highest-ranking guests attended the ball in honor of this event. The opening of the Suez Canal cost Khedive Ismail an astronomical figure by the standards of that time: 28 million gold francs. At first, the canal was the property of the Anglo-French General Suez Canal Company, but now, after nationalization in 1956, the Suez Canal belongs to Egypt.

Crossing the Suez Canal

Today the Suez Canal on the map represents one of the busiest sea transport systems planets. The ships sailing along it create a somewhat bewitching spectacle: there is a lifeless desert all around, and giant ships seem to glide between these endless sandy expanses. This unique sea route handles about 15% of the world's total trade and about 20% of all oil traffic in the world. The duties levied by Egypt for transporting goods through the canal today bring this country huge income - more than 5 billion US dollars per year. This indicator is the second for Egypt after the income that tourism brings to the country. By the way, in addition to its main function, the Suez Canal today has also added to the list of tourist attractions in Egypt, which are already replete with the map of this state. Many tourists vacationing on the Mediterranean and Red Seas strive to look at the great man-made body of water. For tourists who want to see the canal and capture its views in photos, tour operators organize a trip by ship, the program of which, depending on the chosen tour, may include visits to Port Said, Suez and other interesting places.

Video tour of the Suez Canal: