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The Suez Canal ( Arabic: قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, Qanāt as-Suwais) is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest of Egypt).
- Overview
- Geology
- Physiography
The Suez Canal is a human-made waterway that cuts north-south across the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt. The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, making it the shortest maritime route to Asia from Europe. Since its completion in 1869, it has become one of the world’s most heavily used shipping lanes.
Why is the Suez Canal important?
The Suez Canal is important because it is the shortest maritime route from Europe to Asia. Prior to its construction, ships headed toward Asia had to embark on an arduous journey around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. Because of its strategic location, the canal is both heavily used and heavily protected.
How has the Suez Canal changed throughout history?
Various forms of what is today the Suez Canal existed in Egypt between 1850 BCE and 775 CE, although primarily to facilitate trade between the Nile River Delta and the Red Sea. Between 1859 and 1869, Egyptian khedive Saʿīd Pasha partnered with France’s Suez Canal Company to build the present canal connecting the Mediterranean and Red seas.
How was the Suez Canal’s construction paid for?
The Isthmus of Suez, the sole land bridge between the continents of Africa and Asia, is of relatively recent geologic origin. Both continents once formed a single large continental mass, but during the Paleogene and Neogene periods (about 66 to 2.6 million years ago) the great fault structures of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba developed, with the op...
Topographically, the Isthmus of Suez is not uniform. There are three shallow water-filled depressions: Lake Manzala, Lake Timsah, and the Bitter Lakes; though distinguished as Great and Little, the Bitter Lakes form one continuous sheet of water. A number of more-resistant bands of limestone and gypsum obtrude in the south of the isthmus, and another significant feature is a narrow valley leading from Lake Timsah southwestward toward the middle Nile delta and Cairo. The isthmus is composed of marine sediments, coarser sands, and gravels deposited in the early periods of abundant rainfall, Nile alluvium (especially to the north), and windblown sands.
When first opened in 1869, the canal consisted of a channel barely 8 metres (26 feet) deep, 22 metres (72 feet) wide at the bottom, and 61 to 91 metres (200 to 300 feet) wide at the surface. To allow ships to pass each other, passing bays were built every 8 to 10 km (5 to 6 miles). Construction involved the excavation and dredging of 74 million cubic metres (97 million cubic yards) of sediments. Between 1870 and 1884 some 3,000 groundings of ships occurred because of the narrowness and tortuousness of the channel. Major improvements began in 1876, and, after successive widenings and deepenings, the canal by the 1960s had a minimum width of 55 metres (179 feet) at a depth of 10 metres (33 feet) along its banks and a channel depth of 12 metres (40 feet) at low tide. Also in that period, passing bays were greatly enlarged and new bays constructed, bypasses were made in the Bitter Lakes and at Al-Ballāḥ, stone or cement cladding and steel piling for bank protection were almost entirely completed in areas particularly liable to erosion, tanker anchorages were deepened in Lake Timsah, and new berths were dug at Port Said to facilitate the grouping of ships in convoy.
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Feb 16, 2018 · Learn about the Suez Canal, a man-made waterway connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea. Explore its construction, operation, significance and conflicts, from ancient times to the present day.
Apr 5, 2021 · Learn about the Suez Canal, an artificial waterway that connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea via the Isthmus of Suez. Find out how it was built, expanded, and used by ships and vessels.
- John Misachi
6 days ago · What is the Suez Canal? Why is the Suez Canal important? How has the Suez Canal changed throughout history? What is the international status of the Suez Canal?
During the period between opening the Suez canal and its nationalization in 1956, the authority implemented many programs to develop and improve the Suez canal, which resulted in increasing the depth of the canal to 13.5m and its width from 22m to 42m, and also it increased the water sector from 304m2 to 1250m2, and the permitted draft from 2.4 ...
Mar 26, 2021 · Since it was completed in 1869, the Suez Canal has been one of the world’s most important bodies of water; a portal between East and West that has been controlled by multiple countries ...
