The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, linking the Mediterranean Sea at Port Said and the Red Sea at Suez. Opened on November 17, 1869, after 10 years of construction, it allows ships to travel between Europe and South Asia without navigating around Africa thereby reducing the sea voyage distance between Europe and India by about 7,000 kilometres (4,300 miles). A new stretch of the canal was opened in 2015.
It is recorded that Egypt was the first country to dig a canal across its land with a view to activate world trade. The first who dug it was Senausert III, Pharaoh of Egypt (1874 B.C.) Serious efforts to build a modern canal came from the Egypt expedition of Napoleon Bonaparte, who hoped the project would create a devastating trade problem for the English. But it was 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
When built, the canal was 164 km (102 miles) long and 8 m (26 ft) deep. After several enlargements, it is 193.30 km (120.11 miles) long, 24 m (79 ft) deep and 205 metres (673 ft) wide. It consists of the northern access channel of 22 km (14 miles), the canal itself of 162.25 km (100.82 miles) and the southern access channel of 9 km (5.6 miles).
Egypt nationalized the canal on July 26, 1956. The canal was closed five times; the last time was the most serious one since it lasted for eight years. It was then reopened for navigation on June 5, 1975.
The canal is single-lane with passing places in the Ballah Bypass and the Great Bitter Lake. It contains no locks; seawater flows freely through it. In general, 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.
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