Suez Canal – Wikipedia

aerial view of the Suez Canal at Suez The Suez Canal ( Arabic : قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, Qanātu as-Suways ) is an artificial low-lying watercourse in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The canal is part of the Silk Road that connects Europe with Asia.

In 1858, Ferdinand de Lesseps formed the Suez Canal Company for the express determination of building the duct. construction of the canal lasted from 1859 to 1869. The canal officially opened on 17 November 1869. It offers vessels a direct route between the North Atlantic and northern amerind oceans via the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, avoiding the South Atlantic and southern amerind oceans and reducing the journey distance from the Arabian Sea to London by approximately 8,900 kilometres ( 5,500 mi ), or 10 days at 20 knots ( 37 kilometers per hour ; 23 miles per hour ) to 8 days at 24 knots ( 44 kilometers per hour ; 28 miles per hour ). [ 1 ] The canal extends from the northern end point of Port Said to the southerly terminal of Port Tewfik at the city of Suez. Its duration is 193.30 kilometer ( 120.11 secret intelligence service ) including its northerly and southern access-channels. In 2020, more than 18,500 vessels traversed the duct ( an average of 51.5 per day ). [ 2 ] [ needs update ] The original canal featured a single-lane watercourse with passing locations in the Ballah Bypass and the Great Bitter Lake. [ 3 ] It contained, according to Alois Negrelli ‘s plans, no lock systems, with seawater flowing freely through it. In general, the urine in the canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer. South of the lakes, the current changes with the tide at Suez. [ 4 ] While the canal was the property of the egyptian politics, european shareholders, by and large british and french, owned the concessionary company which operated it until July 1956, when President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized it—an event which led to the Suez Crisis of October–November 1956. [ 5 ] The canal is operated and maintained by the state-owned Suez Canal Authority [ 6 ] ( SCA ) of Egypt. Under the Convention of Constantinople, it may be used “ in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of department of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag. ” [ 7 ] Nevertheless, the canal has played an crucial military strategic character as a naval short-cut and suffocate point. Navies with coastlines and bases on both the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea ( Egypt and Israel ) have a finical pastime in the Suez Canal. After Egypt closed the Suez duct at the begin of the Six-Day War on 5 June 1967, the duct remained close up for precisely eight years, reopening on 5 June 1975. [ 8 ] The egyptian politics launched construction in 2014 to expand and widen the Ballah Bypass for 35 km ( 22 mi ) to speed up the canal ‘s transit-time. The expansion intended to about double the capacity of the Suez Canal, from 49 to 97 ships per day. [ 9 ] At a cost of 59.4 billion egyptian pounds ( US $ 9bn ), this project was funded with interest-bearing investment certificates issued entirely to egyptian entities and individuals. The “ New Suez Canal “, as the expansion was dubbed, was opened in a ceremony on 6 August 2015. [ 10 ] The Suez Canal Authority formally opened the new english duct in 2016. This side channel, located at the northerly side of the east extension of the Suez Canal, serves the East Terminal for berthing and unberthing vessels from the concluding. As the East Container Terminal is located on the Canal itself, before the construction of the new side transmit it was not potential to berth or unberth vessels at the terminal while a convoy was running. [ 11 ]

Precursors [edit ]

Canal of the Pharaohs, that followed Wadi Tumilat Ancient west–east canals were built to facilitate travel from the Nile River to the Red Sea. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ] One smaller canal is believed to have been constructed under the auspices of Senusret II [ 15 ] or Ramesses II. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ] Another canal, credibly incorporating a fortune of the first, [ 12 ] [ 13 ] was constructed under the reign of Necho II, but the only fully functional canal was engineered and completed by Darius I. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ]

second millennium BC [edit ]

James Henry Breasted attributes the earliest known attempt to construct a canal up through the first gear cataract to the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt but its completion to Senusret III of the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt. [ 16 ] The legendary Sesostris ( probably either Pharaoh Senusret II or Senusret III of the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt [ 15 ] [ 16 ] ) may have constructed the ancient canal, the Canal of the Pharaohs, joining the Nile with the Red Sea ( BC1897–1839 ), when an irrigation channel was constructed around BC1848 that was navigable during the flood tide season, leading into a dry river valley east of the Nile River Delta named Wadi Tumilat. [ 17 ] ( It is said that in ancient times the Red Sea reached north to the Bitter Lakes [ 12 ] [ 13 ] and Lake Timsah. [ 18 ] [ 19 ] ) In his Meteorology, Aristotle wrote :

One of their kings tried to make a canal to it ( for it would have been of no fiddling advantage to them for the whole region to have become navigable ; Sesostris is said to have been the foremost of the ancient kings to try ), but he found that the ocean was higher than the domain. So he first, and Darius afterwards, stopped making the duct, lest the sea should mix with the river water and mar it. [ 20 ]

Strabo wrote that Sesostris started to build a canal, and Pliny the Elder wrote :

165. future comes the Tyro tribe and, the harbor of the Daneoi, from which Sesostris, king of Egypt, intended to carry a ship-canal to where the Nile flows into what is known as the Delta ; this is a distance of over 60 miles [ 100 km ]. by and by the irani king Darius had the lapp theme, and so far again Ptolemy II, who made a trench 100 feet [ 30 megabyte ] wide, 30 feet [ 9 megabyte ] deep and about 35 miles [ 55 km ] farseeing, a far as the Bitter Lakes. [ 21 ]

In the twentieth hundred, the north extension of the subsequently Darius I canal was discovered, extending from Lake Timsah to the Ballah Lakes. [ 22 ] This was dated to the Middle Kingdom of Egypt by extrapolating the dates of ancient sites along its course. [ 22 ] The relief of the Punt dispatch under Hatshepsut, BC 1470, depict seagoing vessels carrying the expeditionary wedge returning from Punt. This suggests that a navigable link existed between the Red Sea and the Nile. [ 23 ] holocene excavations in Wadi Gawasis may indicate that Egypt ‘s maritime deal started from the Red Sea and did not require a duct. [ citation needed ] evidence seems to indicate its being by the thirteenth century BC during the time of Ramesses II. [ 12 ] [ 24 ] [ 25 ] [ 26 ]

Canals dug by Necho, Darius I and Ptolemy [edit ]

Remnants of an ancient west–east canal through the ancient egyptian cities of Bubastis, Pi-Ramesses, and Pithom were discovered by Napoleon Bonaparte and his engineers and cartographers in 1799. [ 13 ] [ 27 ] [ 28 ] [ 29 ] [ 30 ] According to the Histories of the greek historian Herodotus, [ 31 ] about BC 600, Necho II undertake to dig a west–east canal through the Wadi Tumilat between Bubastis and Heroopolis, [ 13 ] and possibly continued it to the Heroopolite Gulf and the Red Sea. [ 12 ] Regardless, Necho is reported as having never completed his project. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] Herodotus was told that 120,000 men perished in this contract, but this figure is undoubtedly overdo. [ 32 ] According to Pliny the Elder, Necho ‘s extension to the canal was about 92 kilometres ( 57 codified miles ), [ 13 ] peer to the sum distance between Bubastis and the Great Bitter Lake, allowing for winding through valleys. [ 13 ] The length that Herodotus tells, of over 1000 stadium ( i.e., over 183 kilometres or 114 miles ), must be understand to include the entire distance between the Nile and the Red Sea [ 13 ] at that time. With Necho ‘s death, work was discontinued. Herodotus tells that the cause the project was abandoned was because of a admonitory received from an oracle that others would benefit from its successful completion. [ 13 ] [ 33 ] Necho ‘s war with Nebuchadnezzar II most credibly prevented the canal ‘s lengthiness. Necho ‘s project was completed by Darius I of Persia, who ruled over Ancient Egypt after it had been conquered by his harbinger Cambyses II. [ 34 ] It may be that by Darius ‘s clock time a natural [ 13 ] waterway enactment which had existed [ 12 ] between the Heroopolite Gulf and the Red Sea [ 35 ] in the vicinity of the egyptian town of Shaluf [ 13 ] ( elevation. Chalouf [ 36 ] or Shaloof [ 19 ] ), located just south of the Great Bitter Lake, [ 13 ] [ 19 ] had become thus obstruct [ 12 ] with silt [ 13 ] that Darius needed to clear it out so as to allow seafaring [ 13 ] once again. According to Herodotus, Darius ‘s canal was broad adequate that two triremes could pass each other with oars extended, and required four days to traverse. Darius commemorated his accomplishment with a number of granite stele that he set up on the Nile bank, including one near Kabret, and a far one a few kilometres north of Suez. Darius the Great ‘s Suez Inscriptions read : [ 37 ]

Saith King Darius : I am a iranian. Setting out from Persia, I conquered Egypt. I ordered this canal dig 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. — Darius Inscription

The canal left the Nile at Bubastis. An inscription [ 38 ] on a column at Pithom records that in 270 or 269 BCE, it was again reopened, by Ptolemy II Philadelphus. In Arsinoe, [ 13 ] Ptolemy constructed a navigable lock, with sluices, at the Heroopolite Gulf of the Red Sea, [ 35 ] which allowed the passage of vessels but prevented salt water system from the Red Sea from mingling with the fresh water in the canal. [ 39 ] In the second one-half of the nineteenth century, french cartographers discovered the remnants of an ancient north–south canal past the east side of Lake Timsah and ending near the north conclusion of the Great Bitter Lake. [ 40 ] This proved to be the canal made by Darius I, as his stele commemorating its structure was found at the locate. ( This ancient, second duct may have followed a course along the shoreline of the Red Sea when it once extended union to Lake Timsah. [ 19 ] [ 40 ] )

Receding Red Sea and the dwindle Nile [edit ]

The Red Sea is believed by some historians to have gradually receded over the centuries, its coastline slowly moving south aside from Lake Timsah [ 18 ] [ 19 ] and the Great Bitter Lake. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] Coupled with haunting accumulations of Nile silt up, sustenance and repair of Ptolemy ‘s canal became increasingly cumbersome over each exceed century. Two hundred years after the structure of Ptolemy ‘s duct, Cleopatra seems to have had no west–east waterway passage, [ 12 ] [ 13 ] because the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, which fed Ptolemy ‘s west–east canal, had by that fourth dimension dwindled, being choked with silt. [ 12 ] [ 13 ]

Old Cairo to the Red Sea [edit ]

By the eighth hundred, a navigable canal existed between Old Cairo and the Red Sea, [ 12 ] [ 13 ] but accounts vary as to who ordered its construction – either Trajan or ‘Amr ibn al-‘As, or Umar. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] This canal was reportedly linked to the River Nile at Old Cairo [ 13 ] and ended dear modern Suez. [ 12 ] [ 41 ] A geography treatise De Mensura Orbis Terrae written by the Irish monk Dicuil ( born late eighth century ) reports a conversation with another monk, Fidelis, who had sailed on the canal from the Nile to the Red Sea during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the foremost half of the eighth century [ 42 ] The Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur is said to have ordered this canal closed in 767 to prevent supplies from reaching arab detractors. [ 12 ] [ 13 ]

compensate by al-Ḥākim [edit ]

al-hakim bi-Amr Allah is claimed to have repaired the Cairo to Red Sea passageway, but only briefly, circa 1000 CE, as it soon “ became gag with sand ”. [ 13 ] however, parts of this canal hush continued to fill in during the Nile ‘s annual inundations. [ 12 ] [ 13 ]

invention by Venice [edit ]

The successful 1488 seafaring of southerly Africa by Bartolomeu Dias opened a aim maritime trade route to India and the Spice Islands, and everlastingly changed the balance of Mediterranean trade. One of the most outstanding losers in the new order, as former middlemen, was the former spice trading plaza of Venice .

venetian leaders, driven to desperation, contemplated digging a waterway between the Red Sea and the Nile – anticipating the Suez Canal by about 400 years – to bring the lavishness barter flooding to their doors again. But this remained a dream .Colin Thubron, Seafarers: The Venetians (1980), p. 102

Despite entering negotiations with Egypt ‘s predominate Mamelukes, the venetian plan to build the duct was promptly put to rest by the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517, led by Sultan Selim I. [ 43 ]

Ottoman attempts [edit ]

During the sixteenth hundred, the Ottoman Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha attempted to construct a canal connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. This was motivated by a desire to connect Constantinople to the pilgrimage and trade routes of the indian Ocean, arsenic well as by strategic concerns—as the european presence in the indian Ocean was growing, Ottoman mercantile and strategic interests were increasingly challenged, and the Sublime Porte was increasingly pressed to assert its placement. A navigable canal would allow the Ottoman Navy to connect its Red Sea, Black Sea, and Mediterranean fleets. however, this project was deemed besides expensive, and was never completed. [ 44 ] [ 45 ]

Napoleon ‘s discovery of an ancient canal [edit ]

During the french campaign in Egypt and Syria in late 1798, Napoleon expressed interest in finding the remnants of an ancient watercourse passage. This culminated in a cadre of archaeologists, scientists, cartographers and engineers scouring northern Egypt. [ 46 ] [ 47 ] Their findings, recorded in the Description de l’Égypte, include detail maps that depict the discovery of an ancient canal extending north from the Red Sea and then west toward the Nile. [ 46 ] [ 48 ] subsequently, Napoleon, who became the french Emperor in 1804, contemplated the construction of a north–south canal to connect the Mediterranean with the Red Sea. But the design was abandoned because it incorrectly concluded that the waterway would require locks to operate, the construction of which would be costly and time-consuming. The impression in the motivation for locks was based on the erroneous assumption that the Red Sea was 8.5 thousand ( 28 foot ) higher than the Mediterranean. This estimate was the solution of using fragmental survey measurements taken in wartime during Napoleon ‘s egyptian Expedition. equally late as 1861, the unnavigable ancient route discovered by Napoleon from Bubastis to the Red Sea calm channeled water in spots as far east as Kassassin. [ 13 ]

history of the Suez Canal [edit ]

interim period [edit ]

Despite the construction challenges that could have been the result of the alleged difference in sea levels, the estimate of finding a shorter route to the east remained alive. In 1830, General Francis Chesney submitted a report to the british government that stated that there was no deviation in elevation and that the Suez Canal was feasible, but his report received no promote attention. lieutenant Waghorn established his “ Overland Route ”, which transported post and passengers to India via Egypt. [ 50 ] [ 51 ] Linant de Bellefonds, a french explorer of Egypt, became headman engineer of Egypt ‘s Public Works. In addition to his normal duties, he surveyed the Isthmus of Suez and made plans for the Suez Canal. french Saint-Simonianists showed an pastime in the canal and in 1833, Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin tried to draw Muhammad Ali ‘s attention to the canal but was unsuccessful. Alois Negrelli, the italian – austrian railroad pioneer, became concerned in the theme in 1836. In 1846, Prosper Enfantin ‘s Société d’Études du Canal de Suez invited a count of experts, among them Robert Stephenson, Negrelli and Paul-Adrien Bourdaloue to study the feasibility of the Suez Canal ( with the aid of Linant de Bellefonds ). Bourdaloue ‘s survey of the isthmus was the first generally accepted testify that there was no practical difference in altitude between the two seas. Britain, however, feared that a duct open to everyone might interfere with its India trade wind and consequently preferred a connection by gearing from Alexandria via Cairo to Suez, which Stephenson finally built .

construction by the Suez Canal Company [edit ]

Suez Canal, 1869

Preparations ( 1854–1858 ) [edit ]

In 1854 and 1856, Ferdinand de Lesseps obtained a concession from Sa’id Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan, to create a company to construct a canal open to ships of all nations. The company was to operate the canal for 99 years from its open. De Lesseps had used his friendly kinship with Sa’id, which he had developed while he was a french diplomat in the 1830s. As stipulated in the concessions, de Lesseps convened the International Commission for the pierce of the isthmus of Suez ( Commission Internationale pour le percement de l’isthme de Suez ) consisting of 13 experts from seven countries, among them John Robinson McClean, later President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in London, and again Negrelli, to examine the plans developed by Linant de Bellefonds, and to advise on the feasibility of and the best route for the canal. After surveys and analyses in Egypt and discussions in Paris on respective aspects of the duct, where many of Negrelli ‘s ideas prevailed, the mission produced a solid report in December 1856 containing a detailed description of the canal accomplished with plans and profiles. [ 52 ] The Suez Canal Company ( Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez ) came into being on 15 December 1858 .
open of the Suez Canal, 1869 The british government had opposed the stick out from the beginning to its completion. The british, who controlled both the Cape route and the Overland road to India and the Far East, favored the status quo, given that a canal might disrupt their commercial and maritime domination. Lord Palmerston, the plan ‘s most firm enemy, confessed in the mid-1850s the veridical motif behind his opposition : that Britain ‘s commercial and nautical relations would be overthrown by the opening of a new route, open to all nations, and frankincense deprive his nation of its show exclusive advantages. [ 53 ] As one of the diplomatic moves against the project when it however went ahead, it disapproved of the use of “ forced parturiency ” for construction of the canal. Involuntary labor on the visualize ceased, and the viceroy condemned the corvée, halting the undertaking. [ 54 ] initially international opinion was doubting and Suez Canal Company shares did not sell well oversea. Britain, Austria, and Russia did not buy a significant number of shares. however, with aid from the Cattaui trust family, and their relationship with James de Rothschild of the french House of Rothschild bonds and shares were successfully promoted in France and other parts of Europe. [ 55 ] All French shares were promptly sold in France. A contemporary british skeptic claimed “ One matter is sure … our local merchant community does n’t pay virtual attention at all to this exalted cultivate, and it is legitimate to doubt that the duct ‘s receipts … could ever be sufficient to recover its maintenance fee. It will never become a large ship ‘s accessible way in any shell. ” [ 56 ]

construction ( 1859–1869 ) [edit ]

work started on the prop up of the future Port Said on 25 April 1859 .
1881 draw of the Suez Canal The dig took some 10 years, with forced labor ( corvée ) being employed until 1864 to dig out the canal. [ 57 ] Some sources estimate that over 30,000 people were working on the duct at any given period, that more than 1.5 million people from assorted countries were employed, [ 58 ] and that tens of thousands of labourers died, many of them from cholera and exchangeable epidemics. Estimates of the total of deaths vary widely with Gamal Abdel Nasser famously citing 120,000 deaths upon nationalization of the duct in a 26 July 1956 lecture and the company ‘s foreman aesculapian officer reporting no higher than 2.49 deaths per thousand in 1866. [ 50 ] Doubling these estimates with a generous premise of 50,000 working staff per year over 11 years would put a conservative estimate at fewer than 3,000 deaths. More closely relying on the limit reported data of the clock, the number would be fewer than 1,000. [ 50 ]

Inauguration ( 17 November 1869 ) [edit ]

nautical chart of the Suez Canal published soon after the inauguration, with survey data from HMS Newport under George Nares The duct opened under french control condition in November 1869. The hatchway ceremonies began at Port Said on the evening of 15 November, with illuminations, fireworks, and a feast on the yacht of the Khedive Isma’il Pasha of Egypt and Sudan. The royal guests arrived the pursue dawn : the Emperor Franz Joseph I, the french Empress Eugenie in the Imperial yacht L’Aigle, the Crown Prince of Prussia, and Prince Louis of Hesse. [ 59 ] early international guests included the American lifelike historian H. W. Harkness. [ 60 ] In the good afternoon there were blessings of the canal with both Muslim and Christian ceremonies, a temp mosque and church having been built side by side on the beach. In the even there were more illuminations and fireworks. [ 59 ] On the dawn of 17 November, a emanation of ships entered the canal, headed by the L’Aigle. Among the ships following was HMS Newport, captained by George Nares, which surveyed the canal on behalf of the Admiralty a few months late. [ 61 ] The Newport was involved in an incident that demonstrated some of the problems with the canal. There were suggestions that the astuteness of parts of the canal at the time of the inauguration were not deoxyadenosine monophosphate capital as promised, and that the deepest share of the groove was not always clear, leading to a risk of grounding. [ 59 ] [ 62 ] [ 63 ] The first day of the passage ended at Lake Timsah, 76 kilometres ( 41 nmi ) south of Port Said. The french ship Péluse anchored close to the entrance, then swung around and grounded, the ship and its hawser blocking the direction into the lake. The play along ships had to anchor in the duct itself until the Péluse was hauled clear the future dawn, making it unmanageable for them to join that night ‘s celebration in Ismailia. Except for the Newport : Nares sent out a boat to carry out soundings, and was able to manoeuver around the Péluse to enter the lake and anchor there for the night. [ 64 ] [ 65 ] Ismailia was the scenery of more celebrations the follow day, including a military “ march past ”, illuminations and fireworks, and a musket ball at the Governor ‘s Palace. The convoy set off again on the good morning of 19 November, for the remainder of the stumble to Suez. [ 59 ] After Suez, many of the participants headed for Cairo, and then to the Pyramids, where a new road had been built for the affair. An Anchor Line ship, the S.S. Dido, became the first to pass through the Canal from South to North. [ 66 ] [ 67 ]

initial difficulties ( 1869–1871 ) [edit ]

Although numerous technical, political, and fiscal problems had been overcome, the final examination cost was more than double the master estimate. The Khedive, in especial, was able to overcome initial reservations held by both british and french creditors by enlisting the avail of the Sursock family, whose deep connections proved invaluable in securing much international confirm for the project. [ 68 ] [ 69 ] After the open, the Suez Canal Company was in fiscal difficulties. The remaining works were completed only in 1871, and dealings was below expectations in the first gear two years. De Lesseps consequently tried to increase revenues by interpreting the kind of net short ton referred to in the second gear concession ( tonneau de capacité ) as meaning a embark ‘s cargo capacity and not alone the theoretical internet tonnage of the “ Moorsom System “ introduced in Britain by the Merchant Shipping Act in 1854. The ensuing commercial and diplomatic activities resulted in the International Commission of Constantinople establishing a specific kind of net tonnage and settling the question of tariffs in its protocol of 18 December 1873. [ 70 ] This was the origin of the Suez Canal Net tonnage and the Suez Canal Special Tonnage Certificate, both of which are distillery in use today .

Growth and reorganization [edit ]

Suez Canal, c. 1914 A embark sailing down the Suez Canal in 1955 The canal had an immediate and dramatic effect on world trade. Combined with the american transcontinental railroad completed six months early, it allowed the world to be circled in record time. It played an significant character in increasing european colonization of Africa. The construction of the canal was one of the reasons for the Panic of 1873 in Great Britain, because goods from the Far East had, until then, been carried in sailing vessels around the Cape of Good Hope and stored in british warehouses. An inability to pay his bank debts led Said Pasha ‘s successor, Isma’il Pasha, in 1875 to sell his 44 % contribution in the canal for £4,000,000 ( $ 19.2 million ), equivalent to £432 million to £456 million ( $ 540 million to $ 570 million ) in 2019, to the government of the United Kingdom. [ 71 ] french shareholders inactive held the majority. [ 72 ] Local unrest caused the british to invade in 1882 and take full dominance, although nominally Egypt remained contribution of the Ottoman Empire. The british congressman from 1883 to 1907 was Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer, who reorganized and modernized the politics and suppressed rebellions and corruption, thereby facilitating increased traffic on the canal. [ 73 ] The european Mediterranean countries in particular benefited economically from the Suez Canal, as they now had a lot faster connections to Asia and East Africa than the North and West european maritime trading nations such as Great Britain, the Netherlands or Germany. The biggest benefactive role in the Mediterranean was Austria-Hungary, which had participated in the plan and structure of the canal. The largest austrian maritime trading company, Österreichischer Lloyd, experienced rapid expansion after the canal was completed, as did the port city of Trieste, then an austrian monomania. The ship’s company was a collaborator in the Compagnie Universelle du Canal de Suez, whose vice-president was the Lloyd co-founder Pasquale Revoltella. [ 74 ] [ 75 ] [ 76 ] [ 77 ] [ 78 ] The Convention of Constantinople in 1888 declared the duct a neutral zone under the protective covering of the british, who had occupied Egypt and Sudan at the request of Khedive Tewfiq to suppress the Urabi Revolt against his rule. The disgust went on from 1879 to 1882. The british defended the strategically important passage against a major Ottoman attack in 1915, during the First World War. [ 79 ] Under the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936, the UK retained control over the canal. The duct was again strategically important in the 1939–1945 second base World War, and Italo-German attempts to capture it were repulsed during the North Africa Campaign, during which the canal was closed to Axis transport. In 1951 Egypt repudiated the treaty and in October 1954 the UK agreed to remove its troops. secession was completed on 18 July 1956.

Suez Crisis [edit ]

Smoke rises from vegetable oil tanks beside the Suez Canal murder during the initial anglo-french assault on Port Said, 5 November 1956. Because of egyptian overtures towards the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States withdrew their pledge to support the structure of the Aswan Dam. egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser responded by nationalizing the canal on 26 July 1956 [ 80 ] and transferring it to the Suez Canal Authority, intending to finance the decameter project using tax income from the canal. On the same day that the canal was nationalized Nasser besides closed the Straits of Tiran to all Israeli ships. [ 81 ] This led to the Suez Crisis in which the UK, France, and Israel invaded Egypt. According to the pre-agreed war plans under the Protocol of Sèvres, Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula on 29 October, forcing Egypt to engage them militarily, and allowing the anglo-french partnership to declare the result fighting a menace to constancy in the Middle East and enter the war – formally to separate the two forces but in reality to regain the Canal and bring down the Nasser government. [ 82 ] [ 83 ] [ 84 ] To save the british from what he thought was a black action and to stop the war from a possible escalation, Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester B. Pearson proposed the initiation of the first gear United Nations peacekeeping military unit to ensure access to the canal for all and an israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula. On 4 November 1956, a majority at the United Nations voted for Pearson ‘s peacekeeping resolution, which mandated the UN peacekeepers to stay in Sinai unless both Egypt and Israel agreed to their withdrawal. The United States backed this proposal by putting coerce on the british government through the selling of sterling, which would cause it to depreciate. Britain then called a ceasefire, and late agreed to withdraw its troops by the end of the year. Pearson was late awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. As a result of damage and ships dip under orders from Nasser the duct was closed until April 1957, when it was cleared with UN aid. [ 85 ] A UN impel ( UNEF ) was established to maintain the absolve navigability of the canal, and peace in the Sinai Peninsula .

Arab–Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973 [edit ]

egyptian vehicles crossing the Suez Canal on 7 October 1973, during the Yom Kippur War Israeli tank crossing the Suez Canal, 1973 In May 1967, Nasser ordered the UN peacekeeping forces out of Sinai, including the Suez Canal area. Israel objected to the close up of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ship. The duct had been closed to Israeli ship since 1949, except for a inadequate menstruation in 1951–1952. After the 1967 Six-Day War, Israeli forces occupied the Sinai peninsula, including the entire east bank of the Suez Canal. Unwilling to allow the Israelis to use the canal, Egypt immediately imposed a blockade which closed the canal to all transportation. Fifteen cargo ships, known as the “ Yellow Fleet “, were trapped in the canal, and remained there until 1975. In 1973, during the Yom Kippur War, the canal was the scene of a major intersect by the egyptian army into Israeli-occupied Sinai and a counter-crossing by the israeli army to Egypt. much wreckage from this conflict remains visible along the duct ‘s edges. [ 86 ]

Mine clear operations ( 1974–75 ) [edit ]

After the Yom Kippur War, the United States initiated Operation Nimbus Moon. The amphibious assail ship USS Inchon (LPH-12) was sent to the Canal, carrying 12 RH-53D minesweeping helicopters of Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 12. These partially cleared the canal between May and December 1974. She was relieved by the LST USS Barnstable County ( LST1197 ). The british Royal Navy initiated Operation Rheostat and Task Group 65.2 provided for Operation Rheostat One [ 87 ] ( six months in 1974 ), the minehunters HMS Maxton, HMS Bossington, and HMS Wilton, the Fleet Clearance Diving Team ( FCDT ) [ 88 ] and HMS Abdiel, a commit minelayer/MCMV support ship ; and for Operation Rheostat Two [ 89 ] ( six months in 1975 ) the minehunters HMS Hubberston and HMS Sheraton, and HMS Abdiel. When the Canal Clearance Operations were completed, the canal and its lakes were considered 99 % clear of mines. The canal was then reopened by egyptian President Anwar Sadat aboard an egyptian destroyer, which led the beginning convoy northbound to Port Said in 1975. [ 90 ] At his side stood the irani Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, delegated to represent his beget, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. The cruiser USS Little Rock was the only american naval ship in the convoy. [ 91 ]

UN presence [edit ]

The UNEF mandate expired in 1979. Despite the efforts of the United States, Israel, Egypt, and others to obtain an extension of the UN role in observing the peace between Israel and Egypt, as called for under the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty of 1979, the mandate could not be extended because of the veto by the Soviet Union in the UN Security Council, at the request of Syria. consequently, negotiations for a new perceiver violence in the Sinai produced the Multinational Force and Observers ( MFO ), stationed in Sinai in 1981 in coordination with a phase Israeli withdrawal. The MFO remains active under agreements between the United States, Israel, Egypt, and other nations. [ 92 ]

Bypass expansion [edit ]

2015 additions to the canal In the summer of 2014, months after taking position as President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ordered the expansion of the Ballah Bypass from 61 metres ( 200 foot ) wide to 312 metres ( 1,024 foot ) wide for 35 kilometres ( 22 security service ). The plan was called the New Suez Canal, as it allows ships to transit the duct in both directions simultaneously. [ 93 ] [ 94 ] The project cost more than E£59.4 billion ( US $ 9bn ) and was completed within one year. Sisi declared the inflate channel open for business in a ceremony on 6 August 2015. [ 95 ]

2021 obstruction by Ever Given [edit ]

Ever Given blocking the canal in March 2021 Satellite image ofblocking the canal in March 2021 On 23 March 2021, at around 05:40 UTC ( 07:40 local time ), [ 96 ] the Suez Canal was blocked in both directions by the ultra-large Evergreen G-class container ship Ever Given. [ 97 ] The embark, operated by Evergreen Marine, was en route from Malaysia to the Netherlands when it ran aground after strong winds allegedly blew the ship off course. [ 96 ] Upon running aground, Ever Given turned sideways, completely blocking the canal. [ 98 ] [ 96 ] Although separate of the length of the canal is paralleled by an older narrower transmit which can be used to bypass obstructions, this particular incidental occurred confederacy of that area, in a section of the canal where there is only one transmit. [ 99 ] The locate was located at. When the incident began, many economists and deal experts commented on the effects of the obstruction if not resolved quickly, citing how authoritative the Suez was to global barter ; the incident was likely to drastically affect the ball-shaped economy because of the trapped goods scheduled to go through the canal. Among those goods, oil shipments were the most moved in the immediate aftermath, due to a significant count still blocked with no other direction to reach their finish. [ 100 ] [ 101 ] Referring to the European and American market, a few nautical experts have disputed the prediction of a drastic effect on deal, saying this “ in truth international relations and security network ’ thymine a substantial passage route for crude ” according to Marshall Steeves, energy markets analyst at IHS Markit, and “ there are existing stocks ” according to Camille Egloff of Boston Consulting Group and option sources of supply, noting that traffic entirely slowed down and that it might only have impacted sectors with existing shortages ( such as the semiconductor industry ). [ 102 ] [ 103 ] The International Chamber of Shipping ( ICS ) estimates that up to $ 3 billion deserving of cargo passes through the Suez Canal every day. [ 104 ] It was said the obstruction would have an impact on cargo schedules around the global. Shipping companies were besides considering whether to divert their ships along the much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope. The first container ship to do so was Ever Given ‘s sister ship, Ever Greet. [ 105 ] The transport was re-floated on 29 March. [ 106 ] [ 107 ] Within a few hours, cargo traffic resumed, slowly resolving the backlog of around 450 ships. [ 108 ] The inaugural transport to successfully pass through the canal after the Ever Given ‘s convalescence was the YM Wish, a Hong Kong -based cargo ship. [ 109 ] On 2 April 2021, Usama Rabie, president of the Suez Canal Authority of Egypt, said that the price caused by the blockage of the canal could reach about $ 1 billion. Rabie besides revealed that after the Suez Canal resumed navigation, as of noon on 31 March, 285 cargo ships had passed through the canal smoothly. He said that the remaining 175 freighters waiting to pass through the duct would all pas by 2 April. [ 110 ] After the incidental, the egyptian government announced that they would be widening the narrower parts of the canal. [ 111 ] On 9 September 2021, the canal was briefly blocked again by the MV Coral Crystal. [ 112 ] however, this ship was freed within 15 minutes, presenting minimal disruption to early convoys .

timeline [edit ]

• 1799: Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Egypt and ordered a feasibility analysis. This incorrectly reported a supposed 10-metre (33 ft) difference in sea levels and a high cost, so the project was put on hold.[113]
• 1847: A second survey including Robert Stephenson found the first analysis incorrect. A direct link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea is possible and not as expensive as previously estimated.[113]
• 30 November 1854: The former French consul in Cairo, Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps, obtained the first licence for construction.[113]
• 15 December 1858: de Lesseps established the “Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez”, with Said Pasha acquiring 22% of the Suez Canal Company; the majority was controlled by French private holders.
• 25 April 1859: construction officially started.[114]
• 15 to 17 November 1869: An opening ceremony and celebrations were held; Empress Eugénie of France officially opened the canal.[113][115]
• 17 November 1869: The canal was opened, operated by the Suez Canal Company, the concessionary company that built the canal.
• 18 December 1873: The International Commission of Constantinople established the Suez Canal Net Ton and the Suez Canal Special Tonnage Certificate (as known today)
• 25 November 1875: The United Kingdom became a minority share holder in the company, acquiring 44%, with the remainder being controlled by French business syndicates.
• 20 May 1882: The United Kingdom invaded Egypt, with French assistance, and began its occupation of Egypt.
• 25 August 1882: The United Kingdom occupied Egypt. The canal remained under the control of the privately owned Suez Canal Company.
• 2 March 1888: The Convention of Constantinople renewed the guaranteed right of passage of all ships through the canal during war and peace; these rights were already part of the licences awarded to de Lesseps, but became recognised as international law.
• 14 November 1936: Following a new treaty, Britain pulled out of Egypt, but established the ‘Suez Canal Zone’ under its control.
• 13 June 1956: Suez Canal Zone was restored to Egyptian sovereignty, following British withdrawal and years of negotiations.
• 26 July 1956: Egypt nationalizes the company; its Egyptian assets, rights and obligations were transferred to the Suez Canal Authority, which compensates the previous owners at the established pre-nationalization price. Egypt closed the canal to Israeli shipping as part of a broader blockade involving the Straits of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba.
• 31 October 1956 to 24 April 1957: the canal was blocked to shipping following the Suez Crisis, a conflict that lead to an Israeli, French, and British occupation of the canal zone.
• 22 December 1956: The canal zone was restored to Egyptian control, following French and British withdrawal, and the landing of UNEF troops.
• 5 June 1967 to 10 June 1975: The canal was blocked by Egypt, following the war with Israel; it became the front line during the ensuing War of Attrition and the 1973 war, remaining closed to international shipping, until general agreement was near.
• 2004: The canal was closed for three days when the oil tanker Tropic Brilliance became stuck.[116]
• 1 January 2008: New rules of navigation passed by the Suez Canal Authority came into force.
• 6 August 2015: The new canal extensions were opened.
• 19 October 2017: OOCL Japan ran aground causing an obstruction which blocked the canal for a few hours.[117][118][116]
• 23 to 29 March 2021: Ever Given, a Panama-flagged container ship, ran aground and became stuck across the southern section of the canal. The blockage prevented movement through the canal, caused nearly $10 billion worth of disruptions in shipping traffic each day, and created a large traffic jam of ships on both sides.[119][120][121][122]

• Suez Canal in February 1934. Air photograph taken by swiss pilot and photographer Walter Mittelholzer .
• USS America ( CV-66 ), an american aircraft carrier in the Suez Canal
• Container ship Hanjin Kaohsiung transiting the Suez Canal

layout and process [edit ]

When built, the canal was 164 kilometer ( 102 michigan ) farseeing and 8 thousand ( 26 foot ) thick. After several enlargements, it is 193.30 kilometer ( 120+1⁄8 security service ) retentive, 24 molarity ( 79 foot ) deep and 205 metres ( 673 foot ) wide. [ 124 ] It consists of the northerly access channel of 22 km ( 14 mile ), the canal itself of 162.25 km ( 100+7⁄8 nautical mile ) and the southerly entree groove of 9 km ( 5+1⁄2 security service ). [ 125 ] The alleged New Suez Canal, functional since 6 August 2015, [ 126 ] presently has a modern parallel canal in the in-between separate, with its length over 35 km ( 22 security service ). The stream parameters of the Suez Canal, including both individual canals of the analogue section are : astuteness 23 to 24 metres ( 75 to 79 foot ) and width at least 205 to 225 metres ( 673 to 738 foot ) ( that width measured at 11 metres ( 36 foot ) of astuteness ). [ 127 ]

capacity [edit ]

The canal allows passing of ships up to 20 thousand ( 66 foot ) draft or 240,000 deadweight tons and up to a height of 68 molarity ( 223 foot ) above water level and a maximal air of 77.5 thousand ( 254 foot ) under certain conditions. [ 128 ] [ 124 ] The canal can handle more traffic and larger ships than the Panama Canal, as Suezmax dimensions are greater than both Panamax and New Panamax. Some supertankers are excessively big to traverse the canal. Others can offload part of their cargo onto a canal-owned ship to reduce their draft, transit, and recharge at the other end of the canal. On 15 April 2021 Egyptian authorities announced that they would widen the southerly section of the Suez Canal to improve the efficiency of the canal. The plan chiefly covers about 30 kilometres ( 19 mile ) from Suez to the Great Bitter Lake. It will be widened by 40 meters and the maximal depth will be increased from about 20 metres ( 66 foot ) to about 22 metres ( 72 foot ). [ 129 ]

Navigation [edit ]

Ships approaching the canal from the sea are expected to radio the harbor when they are within 15 nautical miles ( 28 kilometres ) of the Fairway Buoy near Port Said. [ 130 ] The canal has no locks because of the flat terrain, and the minor ocean level dispute between each end is inconsequential for shipping. As the canal has no sea scend gates, the ports at the ends would be subject to the sudden affect of tsunami from the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea, according to a 2012 article in the Journal of Coastal Research. [ 131 ] There is one shipping lane with passing areas in Ballah-Bypass near El Qantara and in the Great Bitter Lake. On a distinctive day, three convoys transit the duct, two southbound and one northbound. The passage takes between 11 and 16 hours at a accelerate of around 8 knots ( 15 kilometers per hour ; 9 miles per hour ). The moo speed helps prevent erosion of the banks by ships ‘ wakes. By 1955, about two-thirds of Europe ‘s petroleum passed through the canal. Around 8 % of world sea trade is carried via the canal. In 2008, 21,415 vessels passed through the canal and the receipts totaled $ 5.381 billion, [ 128 ] with an average cost per ship of $ 251,000. New Rules of Navigation came into impel on 1 January 2008, passed by the board of directors of the Suez Canal Authority ( SCA ) to organise vessels ‘ transit. The most crucial amendments include allowing vessels with 19-metre ( 62 foot ) draft to pass, increasing the allowed breadth from 32 to 40 metres ( 105 to 131 foot ) ( following improvement operations ), and imposing a fine on vessels using pilots from outside the SCA inside the canal boundaries without license. The amendments allow vessels loaded with dangerous cargo ( such as radioactive or flammable materials ) to pass if they conform with the latest amendments provided by external conventions. The SCA has the correct to determine the issue of tugs required to assist warships traversing the canal, to achieve the highest degree of base hit during transportation system. [ 132 ]

• Ships moored at El Ballah during passage
• overriding currents in the Mediterranean Sea for June

operation [edit ]

Before August 2015, the canal was excessively specialize for free bipartite traffic, so ships had to pass in convoy and practice bypasses. The bypasses were 78 kilometer ( 48 mi ) out of 193 km ( 120 nautical mile ) ( 40 % ). From north to south, they are Port Said bypass ( entrances ) 36.5 kilometer ( 23 nautical mile ), Ballah bypass & anchorage 9 kilometer ( 6 mi ), Timsah bypass 5 kilometer ( 3 nautical mile ), and the Deversoir shunt ( northern end of the Great Bitter Lake ) 27.5 kilometer ( 17 nautical mile ). The bypasses were completed in 1980. typically, it would take a ship 12 to 16 hours to transit the canal. The duct ‘s 24-hour capacity was about 76 standard ships. [ 133 ] In August 2014, Egypt chose a consortium that includes the egyptian united states army and global technology firm Dar Al-Handasah to develop an international industrial and logistics hub in the Suez Canal sphere, [ 134 ] and began the construction of a newly canal section from 60 to 95 km ( 37 to 59 nautical mile ) combined with expansion and deep dig of the other 37 kilometres ( 23 security service ) of the duct. [ 135 ] This will allow navigation in both directions simultaneously in the 72-kilometre-long ( 45 nautical mile ) central section of the canal. These extensions were formally opened on 6 August 2015 by President Al-Sisi. [ 9 ] [ 136 ] [ 137 ]

Convoy sweep [edit ]

Since the canal does not cater to unregulated bipartite traffic, all ships transit in convoys on even times, scheduled on a 24-hour basis. Each day, a individual northbound convoy starts at 04:00 from Suez. At dual lane sections, the convoy uses the eastern route. [ 138 ] [ 139 ] [ 140 ] Synchronised with this convoy ‘s passage is the southbound convoy. It starts at 03:30 from Port Said and so passes the Northbound convoy in the two-lane segment. [ clarification needed ]

canal crossings [edit ]

The canal in 2015 From union to south, the crossings are :

• The El Nasr pontoon bridge ( ), connecting Port Said to Port Fuad. Opened in 2016, 420 m (1,380 ft) length.[141]
• The Abanoub Gerges pontoon bridge ( ), 1.5 km (1 mi) north of the Suez Canal Bridge
• The Suez Canal Bridge ( ), also called the Egyptian-Japanese Friendship Bridge, a high-level road bridge at El Qantara. In Arabic, al qantara means “arch”. Opened in 2001, it has a 70-metre (230 ft) clearance over the canal and was built with assistance from the Japanese government and by Kajima.[142]
• El Ferdan Railway Bridge ( ) 20 km (12 mi) north of Ismailia ( ) was completed in 2001 and is the longest swing-span bridge in the world, with a span of 340 m (1100 ft). The previous bridge was destroyed in 1967 during the Arab-Israeli conflict. The current bridge is no longer functional due to the expansion of the Suez Canal, as the parallel shipping lane completed in 2015 just east of the bridge lacks a structure spanning it.
• The Ahmed el-Mansy pontoon bridge ( ), a pair of pontoons bridging both channels
• The Taha Zaki Abdullah pontoon bridge ( ), a pair of pontoons bridging both channels
• Pipelines taking fresh water under the canal to Sinai, about 57 km (35 mi) north of Suez, at .
• Ahmed Hamdi Tunnel ( ) south of the Great Bitter Lake ( ) was built in 1983. Because of leakage problems, a new water-tight tunnel[143] was built inside the old one from 1992 to 1995.
• The Ahmed Omar Shabrawy pontoon bridge ( )
• The Suez Canal overhead powerline crossing ( ) was built in 1999.

A railway on the west bank runs latitude to the canal for its entire length. The five pontoon bridges were opened between 2016 and 2019. [ 144 ] They are designed to be chattel, and can be completely rotated against the banks of the canal to allow ship through, or else person sections can be moved to create a narrower channel. Six modern tunnels for cars and trains are besides planned across the canal. [ 145 ] presently the Ahmed Hamdi is the merely tunnel connecting Suez to the Sinai .

economic impact [edit ]

The old port of Trieste, one of the economic hub in the nineteenth century economically, after its completion, the Suez Canal benefited chiefly the ocean trading powers of the Mediterranean countries, which immediately had much faster connections to the Near and Far East than the North and West European sea trading nations such as Great Britain or Germany. [ 74 ] [ 146 ] The main Habsburg trade interface of Trieste with its send connections to Central Europe experienced a meteorologic rise at that clock. [ 147 ] [ 148 ] The time saved in the nineteenth hundred for an assume steamer trip to Bombay from Brindisi and Trieste was 37 days, from Genoa 32, from Marseille 31, from Bordeaux, Liverpool, London, Amsterdam and Hamburg 24 days. At that time, it was besides necessity to consider whether the goods to be transported could bear the dearly-won duct tariff. This led to a rapid growth of Mediterranean ports with their land routes to Central and Eastern Europe. According to today ‘s data from the ship companies, the route from Singapore to Rotterdam through the Suez Canal will be shortened by 6,000 kilometres ( 3,700 nautical mile ) and thus by nine days compared to the path around Africa. As a consequence, liner services between Asia and Europe save 44 percentage CO2 ( carbon dioxide ) thanks to this shorter path. The Suez Canal has a correspondingly significant function in the connection between East Africa and the Mediterranean region. [ 149 ] [ 150 ] [ 151 ] In the twentieth century, deal through the Suez Canal came to a stand several times, due to the two populace wars and the Suez Canal crisis. many barter flows were besides shifted away from the Mediterranean ports towards Northern European terminals, such as Hamburg and Rotterdam. merely after the end of the Cold War, the emergence in european economic integration, the consideration of CO2 discharge and the chinese Silk Road Initiative, are mediterranean ports such as Piraeus and Trieste again at the focus of growth and investment. [ 149 ] [ 152 ] [ 153 ] [ 154 ] [ 155 ]

alternative routes [edit ]

Before the duct ‘s open in 1869, goods were sometimes offloaded from ships and carried overland between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. [ 156 ]

cape Agulhas [edit ]

The main option is around Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa, normally referred to as the Cape of Good Hope route. This was the merely sea route before the canal was constructed, and when the canal was closed. It is still the lone route for ships that are excessively large for the canal. In the early twenty-first century, the Suez Canal has suffered from diminished traffic due to piracy in Somalia, with many shipping companies choosing to take the long route rather. [ 157 ] [ 158 ] Between 2008 and 2010, it is estimated that the canal lost 10 % of traffic ascribable to the threat of plagiarism, and another 10 % due to the fiscal crisis. An petroleum oil tanker going from Saudi Arabia to the United States has 4,345 kilometer ( 2,700 mile ) far to go when taking the route south of Africa rather than the canal. [ 159 ]

Northern Sea Route [edit ]

A graphic comparison between the Northern Sea Route ( blue ) and an option route through Suez Canal ( red ) In recent years, the shrinking Arctic ocean ice has made the Northern Sea Route feasible for commercial cargo ships between Europe and East Asia during a six-to-eight-week window in the summer months, shortening the ocean trip by thousands of kilometres compared to that through the Suez Canal. According to polar climate researchers, as the extent of the Arctic summer ice pack recedes the route will become passable without the assistant of icebreakers for a greater period each summer. [ 160 ] [ 161 ] The Bremen -based Beluga Group claimed in 2009 to be the first western ship’s company to attempt using the Northern Sea Route without aid from icebreakers, cutting 6,400 kilometres ( 4,000 security service ) off the travel between Ulsan, Korea and Rotterdam, the Netherlands. [ 162 ]

Cape Horn [edit ]

Sailing ships, such as the windjammers in the flower of the Great Grain Race between Australia and Europe during the 1930s, frequently preferred the Cape Horn route when going to Europe, due to prevalent scent directions, even though it is slenderly longer from Sydney to Europe this way than past Cape Agulhas .

Negev defect railway [edit ]

In February 2012, Israel announced its intention to construct a railway between the Mediterranean and Eilat through the Negev desert to compete with the canal. [ 163 ] By 2019, the project had been indefinitely freeze. [ 164 ]

environmental impact [edit ]

The possibility of the duct created the foremost salt-water passage between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Although the Red Sea is about 1.2 m ( 4 foot ) higher than the easterly Mediterranean, [ 165 ] the current between the Mediterranean and the middle of the canal at the Bitter Lakes flows union in winter and south in summer. The current south of the Bitter Lakes is tidal, varying with the tide at Suez. [ 4 ] The Bitter Lakes, which were hypersaline natural lakes, blocked the migration of Red Sea species into the Mediterranean for many decades, but as the salt of the lakes gradually equalised with that of the Red Sea the barrier to migration was removed, and plants and animals from the Red Sea have begun to colonise the eastern Mediterranean. [ citation needed ] 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 less salty and nutrient-rich eastern Mediterranean. accordingly, most Red Sea species invade the Mediterranean biota, and entirely few do the inverse. This migratory phenomenon is called Lessepsian migration ( after Ferdinand de Lesseps ) or “ Erythrean invasion ”. besides impacting the eastern Mediterranean, starting in 1968, was the operation of Aswan High Dam across the Nile. While providing for increased human exploitation, the project reduced the inflow of fresh water and ended all natural nutrient-rich silt up entering the eastern Mediterranean at the Nile Delta. This provided less natural dilution of Mediterranean salt and ended the higher levels of natural turbidity, additionally making conditions more like those in the Red Sea. [ citation needed ] encroaching species originating from the Red Sea and introduced into the Mediterranean by the canal have become a major component of the Mediterranean ecosystem and have good impacts on the ecology, endangering many local anesthetic and endemic species. About 300 species from the Red Sea have been identified in the Mediterranean, and there are credibly others yet unidentified. The egyptian government ‘s purpose to enlarge the canal raised concerns from nautical biologists, who feared that it would enhance the invasion of Red Sea species. [ 166 ] construction of the canal was preceded by cutting a small fresh-water duct called Sweet Water Canal from the Nile delta along Wadi Tumilat to the future canal, with a southerly branch to Suez and a northern branch to Port Said. Completed in 1863, these brought fresh water to a previously arid area, initially for canal construction, and subsequently facilitating growth of agriculture and settlements along the canal. [ 167 ]

Suez Canal Economic zone [edit ]

The Suez Canal Economic Zone, sometimes shortened to the Suez Canal Zone, describes the set of locations neighbouring the canal where customs rates have been reduced to zero in decree to attract investment. The zone comprises over 600 km2 ( 230 sq michigan ) within the governorates of Port Said, Ismailia and Suez. Projects in the zone are jointly described as the Suez Canal Area Development Project ( SCADP ). [ 168 ] [ 169 ] The design focuses on development of East Port Said and the port of Ain Sokhna, and hopes to extend to four more ports at West Port Said, El-Adabiya, Arish and El Tor. [ 170 ] The zone incorporates the three “ Qualifying Industrial Zones ” at Port Said, Ismailia and Suez, a 1996 American inaugural to encourage economic ties between Israel and its neighbors. [ 171 ]

See besides [edit ]

Notes [edit ]

References [edit ]