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SUEZ

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 22 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SUEZ , a See also:

port of See also:Egypt on the Red See also:Sea and See also:southern See also:terminus of the Suez See also:Canal (q.v.), situated at the See also:head of the Gulf of Suez in 29058'370 N., 32031'18"E. It is 8o m. E. by $. of See also:Cairo in a See also:direct See also:line but 148 m. by See also:rail, and is built on the See also:north-See also:west point of the gulf. Pop. (1907), 18,347. From the heights to the north, where there is a khedival chalet, there is a superb view to the See also:south with the See also:Jebel Ataka on the right, Mt See also:Sinai on the See also:left and the See also:waters of the gulf between. Suez is supplied with See also:water by the fresh-water canal, which starts from the See also:Nile at Cairo and is terminated at Suez by a See also:lock which, north of the See also:town, joins it to the gulf. Before the opening of this canal in 1863 water had to be brought from " the See also:Wells of See also:Moses," a small See also:oasis 3 M. distant on the See also:east See also:side of the gulf. About 2 M. south of the town are the harbours and quays constructed on the western side of the Suez Canal at the point where the canal enters the gulf. The harbours are connected with the town by an See also:embankment and railway built across a shallow, dry at See also:low water See also:save for a narrow channel. On one of the quays is a statue to See also:Thomas Waghorn, the organizer of the " overland route " to See also:India. The ground on which the port is built has all been reclaimed from the sea.

The See also:

accommodation provided includes a dry See also:dock 410 ft. See also:long, See also:loo ft. broad and nearly 36 ft. deep. There are See also:separate basins for warships and See also:merchant See also:ships, and in the roadstead at the mouth of the canal is ample See also:room for See also:shipping. Suez is a See also:quarantine station for pilgrims from See also:Mecca; otherwise its importance is due almost entirely to the ships using the canal. In the 7th See also:century a town called Kolzum stood, on a site adjacent to that of Suez, at the southern end of the canal which then joined the Red Sea to the Nile. Kolzum retained some of the See also:trade of Egypt with See also:Arabia and countries farther east long after the canal was closed, but by the 13th century it was in ruins and Suez itself, which had supplanted it, was also, according to an Arab historian, in decay. On the See also:Ottoman See also:conquest of Egypt in the 16th century Suez became a See also:naval as well as a trading station, and here fleets were equipped which for a See also:time disputed the mastery of the See also:Indian Ocean with the Portuguese. According to See also:Niebuhr, in the 18th century a See also:fleet of nearly twenty vessels sailed yearly from Suez to See also:Jidda, the port of Mecca and the See also:place of See also:correspondence with India. When the See also:French occupied Suez in 1798 it was a place of little importance, and the conflicts which followed its occupation in 1800 by an See also:English fleet laid the greater See also:part in ruins. The overland See also:mail route from See also:England to India by way of Suez was opened in 1837. The See also:regular See also:Peninsular & See also:Oriental steamer service began a few years later, and in 1857 a railway was opened from Cairo through the See also:desert. This line is now abandoned in favour of the railway which follows the canal from Suez to See also:Ismailia, and then ascends the See also:Wadi Tumilat to See also:Zagazig, whence branches diverge to Cairo and See also:Alexandria.

End of Article: SUEZ

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