Suez Canal - history of construction in pictures. Suez Canal - the border between two continents Where is the Strait of Suez located

The most important artificial canal in, stretching from to. Located to the west of the Sinai Peninsula, it marks the border between two continents. The length of the canal with approach sections reaches 170 km. This shipping canal is included in the version of our website.

The Suez Canal originates in Port Said and stretches to the bay of the same name in the Red Sea. Water transport can pass through it in both directions. Before the opening of this waterway, the transport of goods between Africa and Eurasia was carried out only by land. The canal was opened for navigation in the second half of the 19th century.

According to historical facts, a canal was built here during the 12th Dynasty of Egyptian pharaohs in order to connect the Nile with the Red Sea. The canal was completed by many subsequent rulers and even by the Persian king Darius I, who conquered Egypt. During the reign of Caliph Mansur, the canal was completely filled up. They thought about its restoration in the 16th century AD. during the Ottoman Empire.

The re-opening of the canal had an invaluable impact on world trade. During the First and Second World Wars, the Suez Canal was repeatedly invaded and partially destroyed. Currently, it is one of the main components of the Egyptian budget. Tariffs for transporting goods through the canal increase every year.

Photo attraction: Suez Canal

Suez Canal

SUEZ CANAL

SUEZ CANAL

waterway of international importance. Length - 161 km from Port Said (Mediterranean Sea) to Suez (Red Sea). Includes the canal itself and several lakes. Built in 1869, width 120-318 m, depth on the fairway - 18 m, no locks. The volume of transportation is 80 million tons, mainly oil and oil products, ferrous and non-ferrous ores. It is considered a conditional geogr. border between Africa and Asia.

Concise geographical dictionary. EdwART. 2008.

Suez Canal

(Suez Canal), a navigable, lockless canal in Egypt, connects Red sea at Mr. Suez with Mediterranean Sea at Mr. Port Said , crossing Isthmus of Suez . Opened in 1869 (construction lasted 11 years). The authors of the project are French and Italian engineers (Linan, Mougel, Negrelli). Nationalized in 1956, before that it belonged to the Anglo-French General Suez Canal Company. As a result of the Arab-Israeli military conflicts, shipping through the canal was interrupted twice - in 1956–57 and 1967–75. It is laid along the Isthmus of Suez and crosses a number of lakes: Manzala, Timsah and Bol. Gorky. To supply the canal zone with river water from the Nile, the Ismailia canal was dug. The canal route is considered a conditional geographical border between Asia and Africa. Length 161 km (173 km including sea approaches). After reconstruction, the width is 120–318 m, the depth is 16.2 m. On average, it passes per day. up to 55 ships: two caravans in the south and one in the north. Medium. channel travel time – approx. 14 hours. In 1981, the first stage of the canal reconstruction project was completed, which made it possible to carry through it tankers with a deadweight of up to 150 thousand tons (on completion of the second stage - up to 250 thousand tons) and cargo ships with a deadweight of up to 370 thousand tons. For Egypt, the operation of the S. k. is the second most important source of income for the country.

Dictionary of modern geographical names. - Ekaterinburg: U-Factoria. Under the general editorship of academician. V. M. Kotlyakova. 2006 .

Suez Canal

a lock-free shipping canal in Egypt, on the border between Asia and Africa, connects the Red Sea near the city of Suez with the Mediterranean Sea near the city of Port Said. The shortest waterway between the ports of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Opened in 1869 (construction lasted 11 years). Nationalized in 1956, before that it belonged to the Anglo-French General Suez Canal Company. It is laid along the deserted Suez Isthmus and crosses a number of lakes, including the Big Gorky. To supply the canal zone with river water from the Nile, the Ismailia canal was dug. Dl. Suez Canal 161 km (173 km including sea approaches), width. (after reconstruction) 120–318 m, depth. 16.2 m. Per day passes on Wed. up to 55 ships - two caravans in the south, one in the north. The average time for passing the canal is approx. 14 hours.

Geography. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. - M.: Rosman. Edited by prof. A. P. Gorkina. 2006 .

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 length of the canal, the main channel of which runs almost straight from north to south and separates the main part of the territory of Egypt from the Sinai Peninsula, is 168 km (including the 6 km length of the approach canals to its ports); The width of the water surface of the canal in some places reaches 169 m, and its depth is such that ships with a draft of more than 16 m can pass through it.
Canal route. The canal crosses a low-lying area of ​​sandy desert where the laying of its channel was favored by lakes Manzala, Timsakh, Bolshoye Gorkoye and Maloe Gorkoye. The water surface of both Bitter Lakes lies below sea level, but they had to be dredged because their depths were shallower than required for the canal. On the 38 km section from Port Said to El Kantara, the route passes through Lake Manzala, which is essentially a shallow lagoon of the Mediterranean Sea. The nature of the soil in the Suez Canal area made it easy and quick to carry out excavation work, and thanks to the flat terrain here - unlike, for example, the Isthmus of Panama - there was no need to build locks. Drinking water in the Isthmus of Suez region is supplied from the Nile through the Ismailia freshwater canal, which begins just north of Cairo. The Suez Canal Zone is connected to Cairo and the Nile Valley by a network of railways originating from the cities of Port Said, Ismailia and Port Tawfik.
The first canals on the Isthmus of Suez. The ancient Egyptians built a shipping canal from the Nile to the Red Sea ca. 1300 BC, during the reigns of Pharaohs Seti I and Ramesses II. This canal, which was first dug as a channel for the flow of fresh water from the Nile to the area of ​​Lake Timsah, began to be extended to Suez under Pharaoh Necho II ca. 600 BC and brought it to the Red Sea a century later. During the construction of the modern Suez Canal, part of this old channel was used to build the Ismailia freshwater canal. Under the Ptolemies, the old canal was maintained in working order, during the period of Byzantine rule it was abandoned, and then restored again under Amr, who conquered Egypt during the reign of Caliph Omar. Amr decided to connect the Nile to the Red Sea to supply Arabia with wheat and other food products from the Nile Valley. However, the canal, the construction of which was undertaken by Amr, calling it “Khalij Amir al-mu"minin” (“canal of the Commander of the Faithful”), ceased to function after the 8th century AD.
At the end of the 15th century. The Venetians were studying the possibilities of building a canal from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Suez, but their plans were not put into practice. At the beginning of the 19th century. Europeans mastered the route to India through Egypt: along the Nile to Cairo, and then by camel to Suez. The idea of ​​​​building a canal across the Isthmus of Suez, which would help significantly reduce the cost of time and money, was then considered unrealistic, based on the conclusions of Leper, an engineer whom Napoleon commissioned to conduct research on the canal project. But Leper’s conclusions were erroneous due to the misconception he accepted on faith about the difference in the water surface levels of the Mediterranean and Red Seas (allegedly in the Mediterranean it was 9 m lower than in the Red).
Modern channel. In 1854, Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French consul in Egypt, received from Said Pasha, the ruler of Egypt, a concession to create the Universal Suez Canal Company (La Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez). It was formed in 1858. Work on the construction of the canal began in April 1859, while at the same time a freshwater canal was being laid from Cairo to Ismailia. According to the original terms of this treaty, the Egyptian government was to receive 15% of the gross profits from shipping on the canal, and 99 years after the canal was commissioned, it was to become Egyptian property. Most of the shares were purchased by the French, the Turks and Said Pasha, who bought almost half of all shares. In 1875, Disraeli, Prime Minister of Great Britain, bought 176,602 shares of the Company from Khedive Ismail for £4 million, giving Great Britain a 44% stake.
The opening of navigation along the canal took place on November 17, 1869. 29,725 thousand pounds sterling were spent on its construction. The initial depth of the fairway was 7.94 m, and its width along the bottom was 21 m; later, the canal was deepened so much that ships with a draft of up to 10.3 m began to pass through it. After the nationalization of the canal by Egypt (in 1956), work was carried out to further improve it, and in 1981 ships with a draft of up to 16.1 m began to pass through it.
The role of the channel in world trade. Thanks to the Suez Canal, the length of the waterway between Western Europe and India was reduced by almost 8,000 km. In the northern direction, it transports mainly oil and petroleum products for Western Europe. Industrial products for the countries of Africa and Asia are transported in the southern direction.
International importance of the channel. The importance of the canal was recognized by the leading powers of the world in the Constantinople Convention of 1888, which guaranteed the passage of ships of all countries through it in conditions of peace and war. The Turks allowed Italian ships to pass through the canal even during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911 (during the Russian-Turkish War of 1877–1878 the canal was closed to Russian ships). Serious problems on these issues did not arise during both world wars. However, after the establishment of the State of Israel (1948), Egypt detained ships traveling through the canal to or from Israel and confiscated their cargo. There were no military fortifications in the canal zone, but British troops had been in Egypt since 1882. Before the nationalization of the canal, its administration consisted mainly of the British and French. Then the Egyptians began to control the canal.
LITERATURE
Perminov P.V. Sphinx smile. M., 1985

Encyclopedia Around the World. 2008 .

Suez Canal

The Suez Canal is located in Egypt (cm. Egypt), laid across the Isthmus of Suez, connects the Red Sea near the city of Suez with the Mediterranean Sea near the city of Port Said. In ancient times, there was a connecting route from the Mediterranean Sea along the Nile and several canals to the Red Sea. According to ancient chronicles, the Suez Canal was built by King Darius. This is also confirmed by the inscriptions of Darius on the stones, which stand 20 km north of Suez. Darius's route ran along the western bank of the modern canal.
The canal was in decline after the 2nd century. BC BC, restored by the Roman Emperor Trajan. For 2 centuries, Roman ships sailed along it to the shores of Arabia and India. After the conquest of Egypt by Byzantium, the canal did not operate from the mid-9th century until the mid-19th century. During the period of modern history, the idea of ​​digging a canal across the isthmus was repeatedly expressed, but all attempts ended in failure, since the difference in water levels in the two seas was too large (9.9 m). Only Ferdinand de Lesseps, an engineer and French consul in Egypt, managed to begin construction of the canal in 1859. It was supposed to go from Suez, inspect its harbor, and then go to Pelusay. In the final version of the project, it was decided to move the northern mouth of the canal to where the Port Said harbor subsequently appeared in honor of the Khedive of Egypt.
Construction was successfully completed by 1869, and the Suez Canal opened on October 4, 1869. F. de Lesseps organized an unprecedented ceremony for 6 thousand guests. Composer Giuseppe Verdi was commissioned to perform an opera for the grand opening of the canal and the new Italian theater in Cairo. This is how the immortal “Aida” was created. The next day, 48 flag-decorated ships set sail through the canal in a pre-arranged order. The French Empress Eugenie, as an honored guest, sailed on the first ship. Many crowned heads of Europe and other continents took part in the celebrations. And then the efficient travel agent Thomas Cook organized a tourist trip through the new channel. So, with fireworks, dancing, music, the Suez Canal was transferred to public use.
Thanks to the Suez Canal, the long and dangerous journey around Africa for ships traveling from Europe to the East was significantly shortened. Important economically and strategically, the canal from the very beginning fell into the sphere of interests of the great powers, especially Great Britain and France. In 1875, the government of the English Prime Minister B. Disraeli acquired shares of the Suez Canal Company from the Egyptian Khedive. Since 1880, the management of the Suez Canal was carried out by the Anglo-French “General Suez Canal Company”. Nasser's nationalization of the company that owned the Suez Canal caused a crisis in 1956. Nasser responded to Israel's occupation of the Sinai Peninsula with a blockade of the canal, which was lifted only in 1975. This route today handles 14% of all world trade traffic. The length of the canal is 162.5 km, and its channel has been expanded and deepened several times. About 50 ships pass through the canal every day. This takes 14-16 hours. In the Port Said area, as in three other places, the canal bifurcates to allow two-way traffic for ships.

Encyclopedia of tourism Cyril and Methodius. 2008 .

See what the "SUET CANAL" is in other dictionaries:

Suez Canal- - a navigable lockless sea canal in the northeast of Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The Suez Canal is the shortest waterway between the ports of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans (8-15 thousand kilometers less than the route around Africa) ... Encyclopedia of Newsmakers

Suez Canal- Suez Canal. The SUEZ CANAL, in Egypt, is laid across the Isthmus of Suez, connecting the Red Sea near the city of Suez with the Mediterranean Sea near the city of Port Said. Opened in 1869. Length 161 km, depth 16.2 m, width 120,318 m, without locks. Suez Canal... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

In Egypt, laid across the Suez Isthmus, it connects the Red Sea near the city of Suez with the Mediterranean Sea near the city of Port Said. Opened in 1869. Since 1880, the management of the Suez Canal was carried out by the Anglo-French Universal Suez Canal Company. Nationalized in... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Suez Canal- (Suez Canal), a 171 km long shipping canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea at Port Said with the Red Sea. Opened in 1869. Purchased by England in 1875; from 1882 to 1955 the canal zone had the status of English. military bases. In 1956, Egypt nationalized... ... The World History

SUEZ CANAL- a canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean and is of significant importance for international shipping. The legal regime of the canal is determined by the Constantinople Convention of 1888, which provides that in both military and peaceful... ... Legal encyclopedia

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.

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 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.

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) by 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 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).

The 200 million francs determined according to 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 bigwigs of the company. 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.

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.

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.

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 channel. Instead of the premiere, a large gala ball was held in Port Said.

see also

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 Gulf of Suez separates the Sinai Peninsula from Africa, the Suez Canal opens the shortest route from Europe to the countries of Asia and East Africa.
The Suez Canal is one of the most important waterways in the world. This waterway begins in Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, passes through the Suez Canal and goes to the Indian Ocean, to the countries of Asia and Africa. The canal runs between the dry and sparsely populated Sinai Peninsula and the Eastern Desert, its largest ports are and.
The Gulf of Suez of the Red Sea has an elongated shape and is one of three branches formed as a result of the movement of the earth's crust 20 million years ago, when the Arabian Peninsula broke away from Africa. The other branches are the Gulf itself and the Gulf of Aqaba, located to the east.
The climate here is very hot, there are no permanent rivers, and only dry wadi beds abut the bay, not bringing a drop of water for years. Therefore, evaporation in the bay is very high, and salinity is higher than in many other marine areas of the World Ocean. On the other hand, all year round the water in the bay is very warm and unusually clear (visibility reaches 200 m), which has created conditions for the development of coral reefs.

Story

Throughout the history of human civilization, the Gulf of Suez area was the most important center of world trade, for the possession of which the greatest empires of antiquity fought.
People inhabited the coast of the bay 30 thousand years ago. 6 thousand years ago the great Egyptian culture was born here. A thousand years ago, the entire territory was occupied by Arab tribes. For some time, the Turks established the Ottoman Empire here, but then left, leaving these lands to the Arabs.
In the 20th century small coastal fishing villages turned into centers of thriving resorts, where millions of tourists poured in, appreciating the beauty and climate of the Gulf of Suez.
Tourism is not the only wealth of the bay: at the entrance to it, in the Gems area, on the western shore, there are rich deposits of oil and natural gas.
In the middle of the Gulf of Suez and along the Isthmus of Suez there is a conventional border between Africa and Asia.
In the northern part of the Gulf is the Egyptian city of Suez, where the navigable Suez Canal begins, connecting the Red Sea with the Mediterranean.
The Suez Canal (Qana al-Suwais in Arabic) has significantly shortened the route for ships that previously had to go around the whole of Africa to get to the Indian Ocean. The canal crosses the Isthmus of Suez at its lowest and narrowest part, passing several lakes along the way.
The main difference between the Suez Canal and similar ones is that there is a flat terrain and there are no locks on the canal, and sea water moves freely along it.
Attempts to build a canal between the Mediterranean and Red Seas were made in ancient times. Around 1300 BC. BC, during the reign of pharaohs Seti I and Ramesses II, the Pharaonic Canal was built in Ancient Egypt, connecting the Nile River and the Red Sea.
As Ancient Egypt declined, the canal was destroyed. In the 3rd century. BC e., under the Egyptian king Ptolemy II, the canal was restored, and in the times of Ancient Rome it was called “Trajan River” - in honor of the Roman emperor.
In 642, the Arabs conquered Egypt and hastened to restore the strategically important canal, calling it "Khalij Amir El-Mu'minin", or the canal of the Commander of the Faithful. However, in 776 the Arabs themselves filled it up in order to direct trade through the main regions of the Arab Caliphate. There were plans to restore the canal at the end of the 15th century. Venetians, in the middle of the 16th century. under the Turks, in the Ottoman Empire, and also at the end of the 18th century. during the Egyptian expedition of French troops under the command of Napoleon, but these plans were not destined to come true.
It was possible to build the canal only in the second half of the 19th century.
In 1854, the French diplomat and businessman Ferdinand de Lesseps managed - with incredible efforts - to obtain from the Egyptian ruler Said Pasha a concession to build a canal between the Gulf of Suez of the Red Sea and the Pelusian Gulf of the Mediterranean Sea for a period of 99 years from the date the canal began operating. After this period, the canal was to become the property of Egypt.
Construction of the canal began on April 25, 1859. A huge amount of work was done. The construction of the canal was facilitated by the dry lakes located along its route; they were below sea level, which made construction easier. Despite this, a colossal amount of soil had to be removed. The work was carried out by hand, under the rays of the sun, in a waterless desert. Egyptian fellahs worked on the construction, whom local authorities brought here at a rate of 60 thousand people a month, with a population of only 4 million people in Egypt. It is not surprising that about 120 thousand people died from hard work and epidemics.
Lesseps failed to meet the six-year deadline, as stipulated in the contract: the work took 11 years.
The grand opening of the Suez Canal took place on November 17, 1869. For this event, as well as for the opening of the new theater in Cairo, the Italian composer G. Verdi, commissioned by the Egyptian khedive, wrote the opera “Aida”.
The initial depth of the canal fairway was 7.94 m, width - 21 m.
In 1875, under pressure from international debts, the Egyptian government was forced to cede its share of the canal to the British. Egypt lost control of the canal and profits. England became the owner of the channel. During the First and Second World Wars, Great Britain controlled all shipping through the canal. Egyptian ships paid the same fees as foreign ships to navigate the canal and could not use the canal for domestic communications.
On July 26, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the channel. Great Britain, France and the United States first tried to "internationalize" the channel. When these attempts failed, British, French and Israeli troops began the so-called Suez War of 1956, which lasted a week. The canal was partially destroyed, but was subsequently restored by Egypt with the help of its allies.
After the Six-Day Arab-Israeli War of 1967, the canal was closed again. This happened again during the Arab-Israeli War of 1973. After the end of the war, the canal had to be cleared of mines for a long time by the USSR navy.
Egypt is constantly working to deepen the canal. Now the canal allows the passage of loaded ships with a draft of up to 20.1 m, a displacement of up to 240 thousand tons, a height of up to 68 m and a width of up to 77.5 m.
The Suez Canal has only one fairway, but to facilitate the passage of ships through it, there are several sections where ships disperse. Currently, about 8% of the world's shipping traffic passes through the canal. On average, 48 ships pass through the canal per day, and traffic along the canal is one-way.
The operation of the Suez Canal is Egypt's second largest source of income after tourism.
There are major Egyptian cities along the canal route: Port Said (with Port Fuad) on the Mediterranean Sea, Ismailia - approximately in the middle, and Suez (with Port Tawfik) on the Red Sea.
The attractions of the Suez Canal are the Ahmed Hamdi road tunnel crossing it under the bottom of the canal, the cable-stayed road bridge "Shohada 25 January", a unique power line with masts 221 m high and the El Ferdan railway bridge.

general information

Gulf of Suez

Location: northwestern section of the Red Sea, between Africa and the Sinai Peninsula (Asia).

Countries facing the Gulf: Arab Republic of Egypt.
Language: Arabic.

Currency unit: Egyptian pound.

The most important port: Suez. 478,553 people (2004).
Suez poop Location: between Africa and the Sinai Peninsula (Asia).

Pools: Indian and Atlantic oceans.

The most important ports (population, cargo turnover): Suez (300 million tons), Port Said (603,787 people/over 1 million tons, 2010), Ismailia (750,000 people, 2010), Port Fuad (560,000 people, 2003) .

Largest lakes: Great Bitter Lake, Little Bitter Lake, Manzala, Timsah (Crocodile), Bala.

Numbers

Gulf of Suez

Length: 314 km.
Maximum width: 32 km.

Average depth: 40 m.

Maximum depth: 70 m.
Tides: semidiurnal, height - 1.8 m.

Salinity: 40-42%o.

Average annual water temperature: up to 30°C.
Difference in water level during currents: from 0.5 m to 1 m.

Suez Canal (status as of 2010).

Length: 193.25 km.

Depth: 24 m.

Width: 205 m.
Approach areas: northern - 22 km, the canal itself - 162.25 km. southern - 9 km.
Channel travel time: around 2 p.m.

Vessel speed depending on tonnage and category: 11-16 km/h.

Economy

Minerals (Gulf of Suez): oil and natural gas.

Operation of poop:$5.2 billion (2011).

■ Ahmed Hamdi Road Tunnel.

■ Road bridge “Shohada 25 January”.
■ Power line.
■ El Ferdan Railway Bridge.
■ Coral reefs of the Gulf of Suez.

Curious facts

■ Because there are no locks on the Suez Canal, seawater north of the Great Bitter Lake flows north in the winter and south in the summer.
■ On the 38-kilometer stretch from Port Said to El Kantara, the canal route passes through Lake Manzala, which is actually a shallow lagoon of the Mediterranean Sea.
■ Design work in the canal zone was carried out by French and Italian specialists, and the canal was built by the General Suez Canal Company, which belonged to Lesseps, although legally it was considered Egyptian. The Egyptian government got 44% of the shares, France - 53%, and other participants - 3%.
■ In 1863, the Egyptian Khedive (ruler) Ismail Pasha banned the use of forced labor in the construction of the Suez Canal. But Ferdinand de Lesseps managed to get Egypt to pay penalties in the huge amount of 84 million francs as reimbursement of costs.
■ The Suez Canal significantly reduced the duration of sea voyages: if the route from Marseille (France) to Bombay (India) around Africa was 16.7 thousand km, then through the Suez Canal it was 7.3 thousand km, and from Odessa to Vladivostok - instead 25.6 thousand km total 14.8 thousand km.
■ The construction of the Suez Canal used 1,600 camels to carry water to workers until a freshwater canal from the Nile was built in 1863.