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N0KFQ > TODAY 17.11.13 19:12l 64 Lines 2978 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Nov 17
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Sent: 131117/1552Z 7349@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.57
Nov 17, 1869:
Suez Canal opens
The Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean and the Red seas, is
inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony attended by French Empress
Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III.
In 1854, Ferdinand de Lesseps, the former French consul to Cairo,
secured an agreement with the Ottoman governor of Egypt to build
a canal 100 miles across the Isthmus of Suez. An international
team of engineers drew up a construction plan, and in 1856 the
Suez Canal Company was formed and granted the right to operate
the canal for 99 years after completion of the work.
Construction began in April 1859, and at first digging was done
by hand with picks and shovels wielded by forced laborers. Later,
European workers with dredgers and steam shovels arrived. Labor
disputes and a cholera epidemic slowed construction, and the Suez
Canal was not completed until 1869--four years behind schedule.
On November 17, 1869, the Suez Canal was opened to navigation.
Ferdinand de Lesseps would later attempt, unsuccessfully, to
build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama.
When it opened, the Suez Canal was only 25 feet deep, 72 feet
wide at the bottom, and 200 to 300 feet wide at the surface.
Consequently, fewer than 500 ships navigated it in its first full
year of operation. Major improvements began in 1876, however, and
the canal soon grew into the one of the world's most heavily
traveled shipping lanes. In 1875, Great Britain became the
largest shareholder in the Suez Canal Company when it bought up
the stock of the new Ottoman governor of Egypt. Seven years
later, in 1882, Britain invaded Egypt, beginning a long
occupation of the country. The Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936 made
Egypt virtually independent, but Britain reserved rights for the
protection of the canal.
After World War II, Egypt pressed for evacuation of British
troops from the Suez Canal Zone, and in July 1956 Egyptian
President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the canal, hoping to
charge tolls that would pay for construction of a massive dam on
the Nile River. In response, Israel invaded in late October, and
British and French troops landed in early November, occupying the
canal zone. Under pressure from the United Nations, Britain and
France withdrew in December, and Israeli forces departed in March
1957. That month, Egypt took control of the canal and reopened it
to commercial shipping.
Ten years later, Egypt shut down the canal again following the
Six Day War and Israel's occupation of the Sinai Peninsula. For
the next eight years, the Suez Canal, which separates the Sinai
from the rest of Egypt, existed as the front line between the
Egyptian and Israeli armies. In 1975, Egyptian President Anwar
el-Sadat reopened the Suez Canal as a gesture of peace after
talks with Israel. Today, an average of 50 ships navigate the
canal daily, carrying more than 300 million tons of goods a year.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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