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The Suez Canal in Egypt is an artificial waterway linking the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, and allows commercial and military ships to move between Europe and East Asia without passing through Africa. It is the shortest sea route between Europe and the countries located around the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific Ocean. It is the beating heart of trade and navigation, and the most popular and crowded sea route in the world.
The average duration of the journey does not exceed two weeks between the European continent and the areas adjacent to the borders of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, in contrast to the distance that passes through the Isthmus of Suez, which is 121 kilometers away from the canal.
Currently, the Suez Canal is 193 kilometers long from Port Said to the city of Suez, and it is considered the longest waterway in the world. It is longer than the Kiel Canal in Germany, which connects the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, which is only 98 kilometers long. It is also longer than the Panama Canal between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea region. , which is 77 kilometers long.
By virtue of its navigational function and the increasing demand for it, the Suez Canal witnessed several expansions that changed its size, as its original length increased from 164 kilometers to 193 kilometers, its depth from 8 meters to 24 meters, and its width increased from 52 meters to 205 meters. Navigation in the canal was only carried out during the day, but with the passage of time it also became permitted at night.
Label
Most of the writings on this matter argued that the name of the Suez Canal was linked to its location near the Isthmus of Suez, which the canal crosses, by virtue of the fact that the Port Said area constitutes its starting point.
Another group of interested people believes that its name is due to the city of Suez, located south of the canal, as the area that witnessed the first drilling operations during the canal construction works.
But the majority believe that the name is linked to the Isthmus of Suez and not to the city of Suez, noting that during the era of the companion Amr ibn al-Aas it was called “the canal of the Commander of the Faithful.”
According to some writings, Amr ibn al-Aas was the one who gave this name to the canal that was closed, re-dug it, and reconstructed Egypt according to an economic model concerned with agriculture and irrigation.
the site
The Suez Canal borders the coastal city of Port Said to the north, and the city of Suez to the south. On the western side of the Egyptian Suez Canal is the lower Nile River Delta, and the Upper Sinai Peninsula on the eastern side.
The canal contains two outlets: a northern outlet with a length of 22 km, and a southern outlet with a length of 9 km, which makes it extend from north to south, passing through the Isthmus of Suez and a number of lakes, the most famous of which are Lake Crocodile, Lake Manzala, the Great Bitter Lakes, and the Lesser Bitter Lakes.
The canal includes straight distances and 8 main curves, and is characterized by a difference in the nature of the soil from one region to another. For example, there is sedimentary soil, and in other regions it is dominated by sand, while in the southern region the soil becomes cohesive with the presence of rocky veins.
the date
Most historical data indicate that the first person to have the idea of establishing the Suez Canal was Egyptian Pharaoh Senusret III, and that the first blow of an ax in the process of digging the canal occurred in April 1859 AD, and it was subjected to experimentation for two years (since 1867), before it was officially opened on November 17. November 1869 AD.
Its excavation required 10 years of diligent work by more than 20,000 Egyptian workers, and its affairs are managed by the International Company for the Suez Maritime Canal, which was under the control of the French and was operated by presidents, most of whom were French, from 1855 to 1956. Since July 1956, its management has returned to Egyptian competencies.
Although most history books indicate that Pharaoh Senusret III, who belonged to the Twelfth Dynasty, was the first to think of linking the Mediterranean and Red Seas by constructing the Suez Canal to consolidate trade and facilitate transportation between the East and the West, this canal carries behind it an ancient history dating back to the year 610 BC, during which it went through periods that oscillated between intense interest and serious neglect.
Some writings reveal that the canal was filled with dust, which caused the adjacent Bitter Lakes to be isolated from the Red Sea. In 610 BC, Pharaoh Necho II (Nicos) re-cut it, but he did not succeed in connecting the lakes to the Red Sea. Rather, he only stopped when they were connected to the Nile River.
It is also said that the Persian king, Darius I, paid great attention to the canal, and despite his attempts in 285 BC to connect the Bitter Lakes to the Red Sea, he only succeeded in connecting them to the Nile, as Pharaoh Nicos did. The dream of connecting the canal to the sea remained alive.
In 285 BC, Ptolemy II was able to restore navigation to the canal after overcoming the difficulties that constituted an obstacle to it, and he was able to dig the part located between the Bitter Lakes and the Red Sea. Since then, the Suez Canal began to assume a great status and attract the attention of kings due to its role in Trade and navigation.
During the Roman era, specifically in the year 98 AD, the Roman Emperor Trajan ordered the digging of a new canal from Cairo to the village of Al-Abbasa in Sharkia Governorate, but over the years neglect crept into it and it became unfit for navigation.
In the year 641 AD, the companion Amr ibn al-Aas restored navigation to the canal linking the Red Sea and the Nile River after he re-dug it. In 760 AD, for political reasons, the Abbasid Caliph Abu Jaafar al-Mansur blocked the canal and navigation was disrupted, and land roads were used instead.
Until 1820 AD, Muhammad Ali, who ruled Egypt between 1805 AD and 1848 AD, ordered the repair of part of the canal to irrigate the area between Al-Abbasa and Al-Qassasin.
Some historians believe that the actual history of the Suez Canal began with the issuance of the first concession decree in 1854 AD, which granted the French politician and diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps the right to establish a company to dig and supervise the Suez Canal, and specified the conditions for benefiting from passage through it, especially those related to the equality of all countries without discrimination or A concession, along with other decrees, the most important of which was issued on January 5, 1856, confirming the neutrality of the canal towards commercial ships.
The establishment of the International Company for the Suez Maritime Canal was announced on December 15, 1858, with a capital of 200 million French francs (8 million pounds) based on the subscription of a number of countries, including Egypt, England, the United States of America, Russia, and Austria, each of which had a share of the shares ( 500 francs per share).
However, the beginning was not successful, as all countries quickly abandoned this agreement, and Egypt found itself faced with the necessity of buying shares in the shares of countries that refused to continue with the deal, and was forced to borrow at a very high interest rate to protect the Suez Canal project.
On April 25, 1859 AD, the process of digging the canal began, and the works were completed and it was officially opened in 1869 AD. Due to its strategic location, the Suez Canal was not spared from being the focus of attention of some countries that aspired to control it.
Due to political tensions, on July 26, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser issued a decision to nationalize the Suez Canal Company, which aroused the discontent of France and Britain as the powers that benefited most from the canal, and the dispute developed into launching a tripartite aggression (British, French, and Israeli) against Egypt in 1956.
Economic impact
The geographical location of the Suez Canal makes it a strategic and global navigation crossing par excellence, as it shortens the maritime trade route between Europe and Asia without the need to take a longer route around the African continent.
According to observers, this waterway accounts for the movement of about a third of the world’s ships, and thousands of giant commercial and warships of various nationalities pass through it annually, and 10% of international maritime trade passes through it.
The Suez crossing brings the East closer to the West. It is a major source of income and injects great mobility into the Egyptian economy. The economies of all countries that use the canal as a primary passage for their ships also benefit from it.
The Suez Canal is a major source of foreign currency in Egypt. For example, its revenues in the fiscal year 2022-2023 amounted to $9.4 billion. It also remains the third resource in terms of value, after remittances from Egyptians abroad and commodity exports in the early 1990s.
The canal continues to share with the Petroleum Authority the top spot in the highest surpluses achieved by economic bodies, and it also pays the Egyptian state about 40% of its profits. In the fiscal year 2020/2021, for example, the Suez Canal Authority paid taxes worth 28.7 billion pounds, compared to 31 billion pounds in the previous fiscal year, and the state also reaped profits from it in the same year worth 47 billion pounds, compared to 44.8 billion pounds in the previous fiscal year.
Expansion
Due to the great pressure on the Suez Canal, the Egyptian authorities worked to expand it to have two different corridors, and a new “Suez Canal” was established parallel to the old canal.
This project was launched in 2014 and was completed in the summer of 2015, and the new canal, which is 72 kilometers long, was inaugurated.
This expansion contributed to the increase in the canal’s revenues over the five years (2016-2020) to $32 billion and 442 million, according to official Egyptian figures.
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