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Suez Canal – History And
Construction
Presented By-
Rushna Farooq
Shreya Nigam
Shambhavi Shukla
A Vital Route For World Trade

Suez Canal- An Introduction
The Suez Canal located in Egypt, is a 101 mile (163 km)
long canal that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the
Gulf of Suez, a northern branch of the Red Sea. It officially
opened in November 1869.
Suez Canal
Traffic

History- Beginning
• First canal- constructed between the Nile River Delta and the
Red Sea in the 13th Century B.C.
• During the 1,000 years following its construction, the original
canal was neglected and its use finally stopped in the 8th
Century.

History- Beginning (contd.)
• The first modern attempts to build a canal came in the late 1700s
when Napoleon Bonaparte conducted an expedition to Egypt.
• He believed that building a French controlled canal on the Isthmus of
Suez would cause trade problems for the British.
Napoleon
Bonaparte

History- Beginning(contd.)
• Studies for Napoleon's canal plan began in 1799 but a
miscalculation in measurement showed the sea levels between
the Mediterranean and the Red Sea as being too different for a
canal to be feasible and construction immediately stopped.
• In 1858, the Universal Suez Ship Canal Company was formed
by Ferdinand de Lesseps and given the right to begin
construction of the canal and operate it for 99 years.
Ferdinand De Lesseps

The excavation took some 10 years using forced labour of
Egyptian workers. Some sources estimate that over 30,000
people were working on the canal at any given period, that
more than 1.5 million people from various countries were
employed, and that thousands of labourers died.
The canal
opened under
French control
on 17 November
1869.
1881 Drawing Of
The Suez Canal

 The United States withdrew their pledge to support the
construction of the Aswan Dam.
 Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser responded by
nationalizing the canal in 1956
 This led to the Suez Crisis in which the UK, France, and
Israel invaded Egypt.
Suez Crisis

Arab–Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973
 After the 1967 Six Day War, the canal was closed by an
Egyptian blockade until 5 June 1975.
 As a result, 15 cargo ships, known as the "Yellow Fleet", were
trapped in the canal for over eight years.

Layout (Then And Now)
1869When built
164 km long and 8m
deep
Today 2016
193.30 km long,
24 m deep and 205
metres wide
The New Suez Canal, functional since 6 August 2015,currently
has a new parallel canal in the middle part, with its length over
35 km.

Capacity
The canal allows
passage of ships up
to 20 m (66 ft) draft
or 240,000
deadweight tons and
up to a height of
68 m (223 ft) above
water level.
Navigation
The canal has no
locks.
the canal has no
sea surge gates.
Around 8% of
world sea trade is
carried via the
canal.
Future projects: Six new tunnels for cars and trains are also
planned across the canal.

What was the need?
• The need for new
market for goods and
raw materials
prompted merchants to
seek a shorter route to
the east.
Prior the opening of the
canal ships travelling
Europe and Asia had to
sail around the cape of
good hope which took
120 days.

Impact On World Trade Post Construction
• Decreased road between
Europe and south Asia
from 16000 km to 10000
km.
• Reduced fuel payments.
• Strengthens the power of
Egypt in world economy.
• It is beneficial for world
economy and it
empowers the
globalization process.

Impact On India
Provided a direct ship route
between India and Britain
avoiding the need to go via the
African continent.
The cost of transportation
decreased significantly.
Surplus generated was used
for administrative and war
purposes.
This led to the drain of
Indian wealth to the Britain.
Positive effects
Negative effects

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Suez canal – history and construction

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