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_PN_PAGE 1 _PN_OF 2 Humans knew the art of canal making since ages, the zenith of this art is reached when they attempted to dig sea canals. They are unique in the sense that they are meant to provide connectivity between two adjacent seas, through land.
Suez Canal is the first sea canal to be contemplated and completed. Before 1492, the new world is not known to the world. That is only the Europe, Asia Minor, China, India, Central Asia, northern Africa were known. Till then the inter-continental trade between East and West flourished, by and large, on land. Even then the Mediterranean nations knew the Red sea and Asian seas are separated only by the narrow Sinai Peninsula. Sea fearers and kings fancied of a connection between these two seas, through this land, since ancient times.
Historical evidence, suggest a west-east canal dug through the Wadi Tumilat, joining the Nile with the Red Sea, for direct trade with Punt. This might have been dug by the Egyptian Pharaohs as early as 19th century B.C. or existed at least by 13th century B.C. the ships would travel from Mediterranean, up the River Nile and take this canal to Red Sea.
Soon, it might have fell into disrepairs and later efforts were not fulfilled until Seventh Century B.C. later, sine it fell into disrepair again and restore in 250 B.C., it went through many breakdowns and restorations and finally ceased to operate in Eighth Century B.C.
The modern concept of Suez Canal surfaced only in late Eighteenth Century A.D from Napolean for a shorter trade route from Europe to India. In 1854 Said Pasha, the viceroy of Egypt authorized Ferdinand de Lesseps, a French diplomat for creation of a company for the purpose of constructing a maritime canal through Sinai Peninsula, according to plans made by Austrian engineer Alois Negrelli. The agreement was for the company to operate the canal, open to ships of all nations, for a period of 99 years after its inauguration. The Suez Canal Company (Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez) thus formed on December 15, 1858. The canal was formally opened to traffic on November 17, 1869 by the H.E. Empress Eugenie of France.
This is a brief prologue for humanity’s greatest canal ever built. The full history and the entire gamut of politics that surrounded the mighty Suez are very interesting and can be found at http://www.wikipedia.org.
Constructional features:
The greatness of Suez Canal stems not from its constructional features. It had a long history. It survived many crises. It changed geopolitics like no other single civil engineering project. Its greatness indeed, is its clever plan that is dreamt of more than 200 years ago. Its alignment through the desert area passes through marshes and lakes en route; larger of them are the Timsah and Bitter Lakes.
In its construction, Egyptian slave labour is extensively used, till the American Civil War’s success helped increase pressure. The numbers are staggering – of the over 1.5 million Egyptians forced to work on the canal, 125,000 of them perished due to malnutrition, fatigue and diseases, especially cholera.
Only then, machinery – steam operated dredgers of many kinds, steam boats, barges entered the scene on a large scale. The canal has no locks because there are no hills to climb and the levels of sea on both ends of canal are the same. The excavation took nearly eleven years to complete.
At the cutting through the high ground at El Gisr; Mostly, the material to be excavated was soft sand or mud and therefore could easily be removed. Only at a few spots like Shaluf and Serapeum, rock was encountered. Hence, much of the channel could be dug by of dredgers.
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