Menu
homePrograms

The Suez Canal is of strategic and economic importance. Suez Canal is

The thin blue line connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas is a waterway already familiar to everyone, which plays a huge role in the transport and economic life of the whole world. The name of this iconic water body is Suez Canal.


Suez Canal on a map of Africa

For many centuries, the Red and Mediterranean seas were separated by a 150-kilometer strip of desert, as a result of which water vessels heading the Atlantic-Indian Ocean were forced to make a huge detour around the African continent. With the construction of the canal, this problem was solved in the most rational way, because, in fact, the Suez Canal connects not just two seas, but entire parts of the world, saving huge reserves of money and fuel to cover the distance between the countries of Europe and Asia.

Ship sailing in the desert

The Suez Canal on the map of Egypt is also a conditional border between two continents - Africa and Eurasia. It passes along the Isthmus of Suez in its narrowest and lowest part. On its way, this lockless sea strait crosses several lakes and the Menzala Lagoon. The length of the canal is 163 kilometers, and its width varies in different sections (120-318 m). The canal reaches a depth of 20 m. Its extreme points are large ports (Mediterranean Sea) and Suez (Red Sea). Another significant locality on the banks of this waterway is Port Fuad, the city where the administration of the Suez Canal is located. The canal is also home to such large Egyptian cities as Port Tawfik (opposite Suez) and the industrial center of the country, the city of Ismailia.

Ships sailing through the Suez Canal

Construction of the canal lasted 11 years and ended with a grand opening on November 17, 1869, which was attended by such famous historical personalities as Empress Eugenie of France, a Prussian prince, a Dutch prince and princess, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary, and Minister-President of the Hungarian government Andrássy and others. It must be said that this event had an unprecedented scale and splendor. The celebration continued for a week, celebratory performances and fireworks continued day and night, and the highest-ranking guests attended the ball in honor of this event. The opening of the Suez Canal cost Khedive Ismail an astronomical figure by the standards of that time, 28 million gold francs. At first, the canal was the property of the Anglo-French General Suez Canal Company, but now, after nationalization in 1956, the Suez Canal belongs to Egypt.

Crossing the Suez Canal

Today the Suez Canal on the map represents one of the busiest sea transport systems planets. The ships sailing along it create a somewhat bewitching spectacle: there is a lifeless desert around, and giant ships seem to glide between these endless sandy expanses. This unique sea route handles about 15% of the world's total trade and about 20% of all oil traffic in the world. The duties levied by Egypt for transporting goods through the canal today bring this country huge income - more than 5 billion US dollars a year. This indicator is the second for Egypt after the income that tourism brings to the country. By the way, the Suez Canal, in addition to its main function, today also added to the list of tourist attractions in Egypt, which are already replete with the map of this state. Many tourists vacationing on the Mediterranean and Red Seas strive to look at the great man-made body of water. For tourists who want to see the canal and capture its views in photos, tour operators organize a trip by ship, the program of which, depending on the chosen tour, may include visits to Port Said, Suez and other interesting places.

Video tour of the Suez Canal:

Suez Canal- a navigable lockless sea canal in the northeast of Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The Suez Canal is the shortest waterway between the ports of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans (8-15 thousand km less than the route around Africa).

The Suez Canal Zone is considered a conditional border between two continents: Asia and Africa. The main ports of entry are Port Said from the Mediterranean Sea and Suez from the Red Sea. The Suez Canal runs along the Isthmus of Suez in its lowest and narrowest part, crossing a series of lakes and the Menzala Lagoon.

The idea of ​​digging a canal across the Isthmus of Suez arose in ancient times. Ancient historians report that the Theban pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom era tried to build a canal connecting the right branch of the Nile with the Red Sea.

The first reliable historical evidence of the connection of the Mediterranean and Red Seas by a canal dates back to the reign of Pharaoh Necho II (late 7th - early 6th century BC).

The expansion and improvement of the canal was carried out by order of the Persian king Darius I, who conquered Egypt, and subsequently by Ptolemy Philadelphus (first half of the 3rd century BC). At the end of the era of the pharaohs in Egypt, the canal fell into a state of decline.

However, after the Arab conquest of Egypt, the canal was restored again in 642, but was filled in in 776 to channel trade through the main areas of the caliphate.

Plans for the restoration of the canal, developed later (in 1569 by order of the vizier of the Ottoman Empire Mehmed Sokollu and by the French during Bonaparte's Egyptian expedition in 1798-1801), were not implemented.

The idea of ​​building the Suez Canal arose again in the second half of the 19th century. The world during this period was experiencing the era of colonial division. North Africa, the part of the continent closest to Europe, attracted the attention of the leading colonial powers - France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain. Egypt was the subject of rivalry between Britain and France.

The nationalization of the canal served as a pretext for the Anglo-Franco-Israeli aggression against Egypt at the end of October 1956. The Suez Canal suffered significant damage, traffic along it was interrupted and resumed only on April 24, 1957, after the completion of the canal cleaning work.

As a result of the Arab-Israeli "Six Day War" of 1967, navigation through the Suez Canal was again interrupted, as the canal zone actually turned into a front line separating Egyptian and Israeli troops, and during the October 1973 war, into an area of ​​active military operations.

The annual damage caused by inaction to the Suez Canal was estimated at 4-5 billion dollars.

In 1974, after the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Suez Canal zone, Egypt began clearing, restoring and reconstructing the canal. On June 5, 1975, the Suez Canal was reopened to navigation.

In 1981, the first stage of the canal reconstruction project was completed, which made it possible to carry through it tankers with a deadweight of up to 150 thousand tons (on completion of the second stage - up to 250 thousand tons) and cargo ships with a deadweight of up to 370 thousand tons.

In 2005, a new reconstruction of the Suez Canal began. The reconstruction plan includes deepening the channel, which will allow more than 90% of the existing international merchant fleet to pass through the canal. Since 2010, supertankers with a displacement of up to 360 thousand tons will be able to navigate the canal. Today, the length of the canal itself is 162.25 km, with sea approaches from Port Said to Port Taufiq - 190.25 km. Width at a depth of 11 meters is 200-210 m. Depth along the fairway is 22.5 m.

A modern symbol of the United States, the Statue of Liberty was originally planned to be installed in Port Said under the name “The Light Of Asia,” but the then government of the country decided that transporting the structure from France and installing it was too expensive for the state.

Currently, about 10% of all global maritime transport occurs through the Suez Canal. On average, 48 ships pass through the Suez Canal per day, and the average transit time through the canal is about 14 hours.

According to existing rules, ships from all countries that are not at war with Egypt can pass through Suez. Operating rules prohibit the appearance of only ships with nuclear power plants.

Today, the Suez Canal is the main budget-generating project in Egypt. According to some experts, the canal provides the country with more funds than oil production, and much more than the rapidly developing tourism infrastructure allows today.

The operation of the canal is one of the main sources of foreign exchange earnings for the Egyptian treasury. According to some experts, the canal provides the country with more funds than oil production, and much more than the rapidly developing tourism infrastructure.

The monthly volume of fees for passage through the canal is $372 million.

In the 2007-2008 fiscal year, the Suez Canal brought Egypt more than $5 billion, which was a record figure in the history of the canal.

In the 2008-2009 fiscal year, shipping traffic on the Suez Canal fell by 8.2%, and Egypt's revenue from operating the canal fell by 7.2%. Experts explain this by the consequences of the global financial crisis, as well as by the actions of pirates off the coast of Somalia.

Where is the Suez Canal Authority located? On the eastern side of the canal opposite Suez is Port Tawfik. On the canal in the area of ​​Lake Timsah there is a large industrial center - the city of Ismailia.

Encyclopedic YouTube

  • 1 / 5

    Later, the construction and restoration of the canal was carried out by the powerful Egyptian pharaohs Ramses II and Necho II.

    Herodotus (II. 158) writes that Necho II (610-595 BC) began to build a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea, but did not finish it.

    The canal was completed around 500 BC by King Darius the First, the Persian conqueror of Egypt. In memory of this event, Darius erected granite steles on the banks of the Nile, including one near Carbet, 130 kilometers from Pie.

    In the 3rd century BC. e. The canal was made navigable by Ptolemy II Philadelphia (285-247). He is mentioned by Diodorus (I. 33. 11 -12) and Strabo (XVII. 1. 25), and is mentioned in the inscription on the stele from Pythos (16th year of the reign of Ptolemy). It began slightly higher up the Nile than the previous canal, in the area of ​​Facussa. It is possible, however, that under Ptolemy it was cleared, deepened and extended to the sea. old channel, which supplied the lands of Wadi Tumilat fresh water. The fairway was wide enough - two triremes could easily separate in it.

    In 1841, British officers who carried out surveys on the isthmus proved the fallacy of Leper's calculations regarding the water level in the two seas - calculations that Laplace and the mathematician Fourier had previously protested against, based on theoretical considerations. In 1846, partly under the patronage of Metternich, the international “Société d’etudes du canal de Suez” was formed, in which the most prominent figures were the Frenchman Talabo, the Englishman Stephenson and the Austrian Negrelli. Luigi Negrelli (English) Russian based on new, independent research, developed new project, which, however, is general outline was a repetition of the old one, Leperovsky. Around the same time, the French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps, without making new independent research, but relying only on the research of his predecessors, came up with the idea of ​​constructing a canal completely differently - so that it would be “ artificial Bosphorus"directly between two seas, sufficient for the passage of the deepest ships.

    In 1855, Ferdinand de Lesseps received concessions from Said Pasha, the Viceroy of Egypt, whom de Lesseps had met as a French diplomat in the 1830s. Said Pasha approved the creation of a company for the purpose of constructing a sea canal open to ships of all countries.

    In the same 1855, Lesseps achieved the approval of the firman from the Turkish Sultan, but only in 1859 was he able to found a company in Paris. In the same year, construction of the canal began, led by the General Suez Canal Company created by Lesseps. The Egyptian government received 44% of all shares, France - 53% and 3% were acquired by other countries. Under the terms of the concession, shareholders were entitled to 74% of profits, Egypt - 15%, and the founders of the company - 10%.

    Its fixed capital was equal to 200 million francs (in this amount Lesseps calculated all the costs of the enterprise), divided into 400 thousand shares of 500 francs each; Said Pasha signed up for a significant part of them. The British government, with Palmerston at its head, fearing that the Suez Canal would lead to the liberation of Egypt from the rule of the Ottoman Empire and the weakening or loss of England's dominance over India, put all sorts of obstacles in the way of the enterprise, but was forced to retreat in the face of energy Lesseps, especially since his enterprise was patronized by Napoleon III and Said Pasha, and then (since 1863) his heir, Ismail Pasha.

    The technical difficulties facing the canal builders were enormous. I had to work under the scorching sun, in a sandy desert completely devoid of fresh water. At first, the company had to use up to 1,600 camels just to deliver water to workers; but by 1863 she had completed a small freshwater canal from the Nile, which ran approximately in the same direction as the ancient canals (the remains of which were used in some places), and was intended not for navigation, but solely for the delivery of fresh water - first to workers, then and the settlements that were to arise along the canal. This freshwater canal runs from Zakazik on the Nile east to Ismailia, and from there southeast, along the sea canal, to Suez; channel width 17 m on the surface, 8 m on the bottom; its depth on average is only 2¼ m, in some places even much less. Its discovery made the work easier, but still the mortality rate among workers was high. Workers were provided by the Egyptian government, but European workers also had to be used (in total, from 20 to 40 thousand people worked on construction).

    The 200 million francs determined according to Lesseps's original project soon ran out, especially due to the enormous expenses on bribery at the courts of Said and Ismail, on widespread advertising in Europe, on the costs of representing Lesseps himself and other bigwigs of the company. It was necessary to make a new bond issue of 166,666,500 francs, then others, so that the total cost of the canal by 1872 reached 475 million (by 1892 - 576 million). In the six-year period in which Lesseps promised to complete the work, it was not possible to build the canal. The excavation work was carried out using forced labor from the poor in Egypt (in the first stages) and took 11 years.

    The northern section through the swamp and Lake Manzala was completed first, then the flat section to Lake Timsah. From here the excavation went to two huge depressions - the long-dried Gorky Lakes, the bottom of which was 9 meters below sea level. After filling the lakes, the builders moved to the end southern section.

    The total length of the canal was about 173 km, including the length of the canal itself across the Isthmus of Suez 161 km, the sea canal along the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea - 9.2 km and the Gulf of Suez - about 3 km. The width of the channel along the water surface is 120-150 m, along the bottom - 45-60 m. The depth along the fairway was initially 12-13 m, then it was deepened to 20 m.

    The canal officially opened for navigation on November 17, 1869. The opening of the Suez Canal was attended by the Empress of France Eugenie (wife of Napoleon III), the Emperor of Austria-Hungary Franz Joseph I with the Minister-President of the Hungarian government Andrássy, a Dutch prince and princess, and a Prussian prince. Never before has Egypt known such celebrations and received so many distinguished European guests. The celebration lasted seven days and nights and cost Khedive Ismail 28 million gold francs. And only one point of the celebration program was not fulfilled: the famous Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi did not have time to finish the opera “Aida” commissioned for this occasion, the premiere of which was supposed to enrich the opening ceremony of the channel. Instead of the premiere, a large gala ball was held in Port Said.

    • On July 26, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel-Nasser nationalized the channel. This led to the invasion of British, French and Israeli troops and the start of the week-long Suez War of 1956. The canal was partially destroyed, some ships were sunk, and as a result, shipping was closed until April 24, 1957, until the canal was cleared with the help of the UN. UN peacekeeping forces were introduced to maintain the status of the Sinai Peninsula and the Suez Canal as neutral territories.

      Present tense

      The Suez Canal is one of Egypt's main sources of income, along with oil production, tourism and agriculture.

      According to the head of the Canal Authority, Ahmad Fadel, 17,799 ships passed through the Suez Canal in 2011, which is 1.1 percent less than the year before. At the same time, the Egyptian authorities earned $5.22 billion from the transit of ships (456 million dollars more than in 2010).

      In December 2011, the Egyptian authorities announced that tariffs for cargo transit, which had not changed over the past three years, from March 2012 will increase by three percent.

      According to 2009 data, about 10% of the world's maritime traffic passes through the canal. The passage through the canal takes about 14 hours. On average, 48 ships pass through the canal per day.

      Second channel

      Construction of a 72-kilometer parallel canal began in August 2014 to allow two-way traffic for ships. Trial operation of the second stage of the canal began on July 25, 2015. The country's army actively participated in the construction. The population of Egypt participated in the financing.

      On August 6, 2015, the opening ceremony of the new Suez Canal took place. The ceremony was attended, in particular, by Egyptian President Abdul-Fattah Al-Sisi, who arrived at the event site on board the Al-Mahrousa yacht. This yacht gained fame as the first ship to pass through the old Suez Canal in 1869.

      The vessel is currently part of the Egyptian Navy, being the country's oldest active naval vessel, and is sometimes used as a presidential yacht. The ship goes to sea about three times a year, but usually only for one day. The yacht was built in 1865.

      "New Suez" runs parallel to the old shipping route, built 145 years ago and is the shortest water route between Indian Ocean And Mediterranean Sea. New channel, like the previous one, will be state property.

      Construction was financed from internal sources. The Egyptian government issued bonds with a yield of 12% per annum, and investors snapped them up within just eight days. Construction works were carried out around the clock large-scale participation engineering units of the Egyptian army.

      The Suez backup took only one year to build (although it was estimated that it should have been built in three years). The project cost Egypt $8.5 billion. The New Suez Canal project consisted of widening, deepening the current tract and creating a parallel tract. The new channel should increase the channel's capacity.

      The goal of the project is to ensure two-way traffic of vessels. In the future, from south to north they will follow the old channel, and from north to south along the new channel. Thus, the average waiting time for ships while passing through the canal should decrease by four times, while its throughput will increase from 49 to 97 ships per day.

      In addition, the backup is expected to increase Egypt's operating revenue by 2023 waterway 2.5 times - up to 13.2 billion dollars from the current 5.3 billion. The Suez Canal provides 7% of global maritime traffic, plays key role in supplying Europe with Middle Eastern oil, and for Egypt it is the second source of foreign exchange earnings after tourism. In the future, it is planned to create a large logistics center and an industrial zone. A number of experts consider these forecasts to be overly optimistic.

      Connection between banks

      see also

    Construction of the Suez Canal.

    Drawing of the Suez Canal (1881)

    Maybe, back during the Twelfth Dynasty, Pharaoh Senusret III (BC - BC) laid from west to east a canal dug through Wadi Tumilat connecting the Nile to the Red Sea, for unhindered trade with Punt.

    Later, the construction and restoration of the canal was carried out by the powerful Egyptian pharaohs Ramses II and Necho II.

    Herodotus (II. 158) writes that Necho (609-594) began to build a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea, but did not finish it.

    The canal was completed around 500 BC by King Darius the First, the Persian conqueror of Egypt. In memory of this event, Darius erected granite steles on the banks of the Nile, including one near Carbet, 130 kilometers from Pie.

    In the 3rd century BC. e. The canal was made navigable by Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247). He is mentioned by Diodorus (I. 33. 11 -12) and Strabo (XVII. 1. 25), and is mentioned in the inscription on the stele from Pythos (16th year of the reign of Ptolemy). It began slightly higher up the Nile than the previous canal, in the area of ​​Facussa. It is possible, however, that under Ptolemy the old canal was cleared, deepened and extended to the sea, supplying the lands of Wadi Tumilat with fresh water. The fairway was wide enough - two triremes could easily separate in it.

    Its fixed capital was equal to 200 million francs (in this amount Lesseps calculated all the costs of the enterprise), divided into 400 thousand shares of 500 francs each; Said Pasha signed up for a significant part of them. The English government, with Palmerston at its head, fearing that the Suez Canal would lead to the liberation of Egypt from Turkish rule and to the weakening or loss of England's dominance over India, put all sorts of obstacles in the way of the enterprise, but had to yield to the energy of Lesseps , especially since his enterprise was patronized by Napoleon III and Said Pasha, and then (since 1863) by his heir, Ismail Pasha.

    The technical difficulties were enormous. I had to work under the scorching sun, in a sandy desert completely devoid of fresh water. At first, the company had to use up to 1,600 camels just to deliver water to workers; but by 1863 she had completed a small freshwater canal from the Nile, which ran approximately in the same direction as the ancient canals (the remains of which were used in some places), and was intended not for navigation, but solely for the delivery of fresh water - first to workers, then and the settlements that were to arise along the canal. This freshwater the channel is on from Zakazik at the Nile east to Ismailia, and from there southeast, along the sea canal, to Suez; channel width 17 m on the surface, 8 m on the bottom; its depth on average is only 2¼ m, in some places even much less. Its discovery made the work easier, but still the mortality rate among workers was high. Workers were provided by the Egyptian government, but European workers also had to be used (in total, from 20 to 40 thousand people worked on construction).

    The 200 million francs determined according to Lesseps's original project soon ran out, especially due to the enormous expenses on bribery at the courts of Said and Ismail, on widespread advertising in Europe, on the costs of representing Lesseps himself and other bigwigs of the company. It was necessary to make a new bond issue of 166,666,500 francs, then others, so that the total cost of the canal by 1872 reached 475 million (by 1892 - 576 million). In the six-year period in which Lesseps promised to complete the work, it was not possible to build the canal. The excavation work was carried out using forced labor from Egypt's poor (in the early stages) and took 11 years.

    The northern section through the swamp and Lake Manzala was completed first, then the flat section to Lake Timsah. From here the excavation went to two huge depressions - the long-dried Bitter Lakes, the bottom of which was 9 meters below sea level. After filling the lakes, the builders moved to the end southern section.

    The canal officially opened to navigation on November 17, 1869. On the occasion of the opening of the canal, the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi was commissioned to perform the opera Aida, the first production of which took place on December 24, 1871 at the Cairo Opera House.

    One of the first travelers in the 19th century.

    Economic and strategic importance of the canal

    The canal had an immediate and invaluable impact on world trade. Six months earlier, the First Transcontinental Railroad had been put into operation, and the entire world could now be circumnavigated in record time. The canal played an important role in the expansion and further colonization of Africa. External debts forced Ismail Pasha, who succeeded Said Pasha, to sell his share in the canal to Great Britain in 1875. The General Suez Canal Company essentially became an Anglo-French enterprise, and Egypt was excluded from both the management of the canal and the profits. England became the actual owner of the canal. This position was further strengthened after it occupied Egypt in 1882.

    Present tense

    The Egyptian Suez Canal Authority (SCA) reported that at the end of 2009, 17,155 ships passed through the canal, which is 20% less than in 2009 (21,170 ships). For the Egyptian budget, this meant a reduction in revenues from the operation of the canal from 5.38 billion US dollars in pre-crisis 2008 to 4.29 billion US dollars in 2009.

    According to the head of the Canal Authority, Ahmad Fadel, 17,799 ships passed through the Suez Canal in 2011, which is 1.1 percent less than the year before. At the same time, the Egyptian authorities earned $5.22 billion from the transit of ships (456 million dollars more than in 2010).

    In December 2011, Egyptian authorities announced that tariffs for cargo transit, which have not changed over the past three years, will increase by three percent from March 2012.

    According to 2009 data, about 10% of the world's maritime traffic passes through the canal. The passage through the canal takes about 14 hours. On average, 48 ships pass through the canal per day.

    Connection between banks

    Since April 1980, a road tunnel has been operating in the area of ​​the city of Suez, passing under the bottom of the Suez Canal, connecting Sinai and continental Africa. In addition to the technical excellence that made it possible to create such a complex engineering project, this tunnel attracts with its monumentality, is of great strategic importance and is rightfully considered a landmark of Egypt.

    The opening of the Suez Canal was attended by the Empress of France Eugenie (wife of Napoleon III), the Emperor of Austria-Hungary Franz Joseph I with the Minister-President of the Hungarian government Andrássy, the Dutch prince and princess, and the Prussian prince. Never before has Egypt known such celebrations and received so many distinguished European guests. The celebration lasted seven days and nights and cost Khedive Ismail 28 million gold francs. And only one point of the celebration program was not fulfilled: the famous Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi did not have time to finish the opera “Aida” commissioned for this occasion, the premiere of which was supposed to enrich the opening ceremony of the channel. Instead of the premiere, a large gala ball was held in Port Said.

    see also

    Notes

    Literature

    • Dementyev I. A. Suez Canal / Ed. acad. L. N. Ivanova. - Ed. 2nd. - M.: Geographgiz, 1954. - 72 p. - (At the world map). - 50,000 copies.(region) (1st ed. - M.: Geographgiz, 1952. 40 p.)

    Links

    • V. V. Vodovozov// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional ones). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
    • The Suez Canal is 140 years old: the story of the creation of a 19th-century legend. RIA NEWS (November 17, 2009). Archived from the original on May 19, 2012. Retrieved November 17, 2009.

    In contact with

    Photo gallery






    Helpful information

    Suez Canal
    Arab. قناة السويس
    translit. rope-Suwais
    English Suez Canal

    Connection between banks

    Since 1981, a road tunnel has been operating near the city of Suez, passing under the bottom of the Suez Canal, connecting Sinai and continental Africa. In addition to the technical excellence that made it possible to create such a complex engineering project, this tunnel attracts with its monumentality, is of great strategic importance and is rightfully considered a landmark of Egypt.

    In 1998, a power transmission line was built over the canal in Suez. The line supports, standing on both banks, have a height of 221 meters and are located 152 meters from each other.

    On October 9, 2001, a new bridge was opened in Egypt. Hosni Mubarak on the highway connecting the cities of Port Said and Ismailia. The opening ceremony of the bridge was attended by then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Before the opening of the Millau Viaduct, this structure was the highest cable-stayed bridge in the world. The height of the bridge is 70 meters. Construction lasted 4 years, one Japanese and two Egyptian construction companies took part in it.

    In 2001, traffic was opened on the El Ferdan railway bridge, 20 km north of the city of Ismailia. It is the longest swing bridge in the world; its two swing sections have a total length of 340 meters. The previous bridge was destroyed in 1967 during the Arab-Israeli conflict.